India among world's 20 LEAST peaceful nations

According to a report by the Institute for Economics and Peace, an independent, think tank dedicated to shifting the world’s focus to peace as a positive and tangible measure of progress, India ranks 143rd among the 162 countries for the second year in a row.

According to the index, the majority of deaths from terrorism have occurred in countries suffering from protracted civil conflict or war, with 82 per cent of deaths from terrorism in 2013 occurring in just five countries: Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria and Syria.

Pakistan stands at rank 154 in the list.

Syria remains the least peaceful country in the 2015 GPI at No. 162, owing to the influx of foreign fighters seeking to join the ranks of terrorist group Islamic State and the entanglement of multiple power struggles between both regional and international influences.

China, Vietnam and the Philippines have all shown a worsening of their scores in the 2015 index.

According to the report, Myanmar showed a worsening of its score, partly driven by the imposition of martial law in the Kokang Self-Administered Zone in Shan state on the border with China, which is reflected in deterioration in likelihood of violent demonstrations.

The continuing conflict risks intervention from China (rank 124), which would escalate the situation further.

The United Stares stands at rank 94. According to the report, the US has the highest cost of violence containment accounting for 15 per cent of global homicide costs.

This is due to the high per capita income of the US combined with its large population. Other countries with higher homicide rates have a combination of lower per capita income and are less populous.

The major shifts in Europe have been in the United Kingdom (rank #39) and Germany (#16), which have both shown a trend of decreasing violence containment expenditure in recent years.

Germany has shown decreases in its level of military expenditure, while the UK has shown large decreases in interpersonal violence and homicide-related costs.

Norway stands at No. 17.

According to the report, an urban area in Japan must have at least 50,000 residents. But less dense or developed countries often have a much lower threshold.

Japan stands at No. 8.

In 2008, there were only three countries that had a score worse than 3 out of 5: Somalia, Iraq and Sudan.

However, by 2015 this increased to nine countries: Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Central African Republic, Somalia, Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Pakistan, highlighting the further deterioration amongst the least peaceful countries in the world.

Iceland is the most peaceful country, with the 10 highest ranking nations in the GPI all being stable democracies. Nordic and Alpine countries are particularly well represented.

Asia-Pacific is also represented at the top, with New Zealand ranked 4th and Australia at 9th.