Costa Rica is the most peaceful country in the region

Costa Rica is first in Central America and second in Latin America in the 2017 Global Peace Index of the Institute for Economics & Peace.

In 34th place worldwide, Costa Rica lost one spot from last year’s ranking, while remaining in the group of countries with “high” standards of peace.

Twelve countries, led by Iceland, are in the “very high” category.

In Central America, Panama in 49th place overall is closest to Costa Rica in the ranking, while Guatemala is the least peaceful country.

The Northern Triangle – consisting of El Salvador, Guatemeala and Honduras –
along with Colombia and Mexico are all in the “low”category, above only a group of 14 countries, which make up the ranking’s “red zone”.

Iceland has held the title of “most peaceful” for eleven years, while Syria is last among 163 nations.

Key factors in the evaluation include conflicts, safety and security, and militarization (numbers in brackets indicate each country’s global position).

1            Costa Rica (34)
2            Panama (49)
3            Nicaragua (74)
4            Honduras (106)
5            El Salvador (115)
6            Guatemala (117)