Iceland ranked safest destination in the world, New Zealand takes fourth place

A couple take a selfie in front of Skogafoss waterfall in Iceland.

In an increasingly volatile world, planning a holiday can feel like a minefield.

But the recently released Global Peace Index has named the world's safest destinations, according to their level of peacefulness.

This year's report by the Institute for Economics and Peace assessed 163 countries using various indicators, including the level of safety and security in society, involvement in domestic and international conflicts, and military capacity.

Deaths from terrorism, like the Paris shootings, have increased.

For the sixth year in a row, Iceland was named the world's most peaceful country, followed by Denmark and Austria, which remained unchanged from 2015.

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New Zealand was named the fourth most peaceful country in the world.

Denmark was also named the happiest country in the world in this year's edition of the World Happiness Report, based on variables like GDP per capita, social support, life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity, and perceptions of corruption.

New Zealand was ranked the fourth safest country, followed by Portugal at number five, while popular Kiwi holiday destination Australia came in 15th place.

The United Kingdom was ranked 47th, and the United States came in at 103.

According to the report, Europe retained its position as the most peaceful region in the world in 2016, however its score deteriorated due to the terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels, escalation of violence and instability in Turkey and its deteriorating relations with its neighbours.

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Deaths from terrorism increased by 80 per cent from last year's report, with only 69 countries not recording a terrorist incident.

The least peaceful countries on the list were suffering from ongoing conflicts, with Syria at the bottom, followed by South Sudan, Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia.

Overall, the world became slightly less peaceful in 2016, as the gap between the most and least peaceful countries continued to widen, the report found.

But the rising global inequality in peace also masked some positive trends.

"While some of the most peaceful nations have reached historic levels of peace, the least peaceful nations have become even less peaceful," the report's authors wrote.

"So intense is the violence and conflict in the Middle East and North Africa region that, when looking at the rest of the world, the average levels of peacefulness in fact increased."

 - Stuff

Source: Iceland ranked safest destination in the world, New Zealand takes fourth place