The Netherlands remains one of the world's top 20 most peaceful countries

The Netherlands has been ranked as the 17th most peaceful country in the world in the Global Peace Index 2026 (GPI), three places lower than in 2025.

How peaceful is the Netherlands?

The Netherlands has once again been ranked among the most peaceful countries in the world, despite a year of global uncertainty and rising tensions. The country ranked seventeenth in the GPI 2026, published by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), three spots below its 14th-place ranking last year, with an overall GPI score of 1,566.

The Netherlands scored "more peaceful" when it came to political instability, the political terror scale, deaths from internal and external conflicts, the number of refugees as a percent of the population, relations with neighbouring countries, the number of internal conflicts and UN peacekeeping funding.

On the other hand, the country scored “less peaceful” for weapons imports and exports, militarisation, military expenditure as a percent of GDP, access to small arms, the number of police per 100.000 people and intensity of internal conflict.

Iceland named the most peaceful country

The GPI ranks 163 countries, covering 99,7 percent of the population, and is “the world’s leading measure of global peacefulness”.

The index uses 23 qualitative and quantitative indicators to measure peace in three areas: “the level of societal safety and security, the extent of ongoing domestic and international conflict and the degree of militarisation.” You can read details of the GPI methodology here. 

Iceland came out on top as the most peaceful country in the world, with a GPI score of 1,161, followed by New Zealand in second place, scoring 1,343. Russia ranked the lowest with a score of 3,367.

World peace at its lowest level in almost 20 years

According to the GPI 2026, the world is “struggling with the economic consequences of a record-high number of conflicts” that are “interconnected and difficult to resolve”.

In recent years, the global geopolitical stage has started to experience a shift in influence away from “traditional European powers” towards “middle powers”, while technological advances have changed how wars are fought.

According to the 2026 index, “global peace is at its lowest level since [the GPI's] inception” in 2007, as 99 countries experienced more conflict in 2026 and 119 (around 73 percent) of countries are now less peaceful than when the index was created.

10 most peaceful countries in the world

According to IEP’s Global Peace Index 2026, these are the most peaceful countries in the world (GPI score):

1. Iceland (1,161)
2. New Zealand (1,343)
3. Switzerland (1,363)
4. Slovenia (1,369)
5. Ireland (1,371)
6. Austria (1,421)
7. Portugal (1,427)
8. Singapore (1,435)
9. Finland (1,478)
10. Japan (1,489)

Read the report in full here.

This article was originally published on IamExpat in Switzerland.