JAMAICA has been placed at number 81 of 121 countries in the first study to rank countries around the world according to their peacefulness and the factors that cause and sustain peace.

The study – the Global Peace Index – was released yesterday. It was conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit, a division of the Economist publication and was funded by Australian businessman Steve Killelea.

The study was done by using 24 indicators, including military spending, ease of access to ‘weapons of minor destruction’ – guns and small explosives – corruption and respect for human rights.

Yesterday, head of the Peace Management Initiative, Bishop Herro Blair, said the results of the study was not good for the country.

“It is a sad indictment against us,” said Blair. However, he said that he had not read the report.

Norway was listed as the world’s most peaceful country, while Iraq was cited as the least peaceful country of the 121 surveyed.

The study found that peaceful states had high levels of democracy and transparency, education and material well-being. But while the United States possesses many of these characteristics, the country was ranked at 96. The report said that America’s involvement in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as its densely populated prisons and heavy military spending from its Gross Domestic Product, contributed to its low ranking.

Despite the pressure of a trade embargo, Caribbean neighbours Cuba was ranked ahead of Jamaica at 56, while Trinidad and Tobago, a country hit by rising levels of gun crimes and kidnappings was rated at 94.

However, despite Jamaica’s higher ranking than Trinidad and the US, Professor Barry Chevannes of the University of the West Indies said the country had no reason to feel proud.

“It is not surprising; the only reason why Trinidad has fared worse is because of the spate of kidnappings, but is it no consolation,” Chevannes said.

Venezuela was ranked at 102.

Among the economically powerful G8 countries there are significant differences in peacefulness. Japan was the most peaceful with an index rank of five, while Russia neared the bottom at number 118.

The Global Peace Index also reveals that countries which had been battle grounds during the 20th century, such as Ireland and Germany, have emerged as peace leaders in the 21st century with ratings of five and 12 respectively.

The most peaceful African countries were found to be Bhutan (19), Tunisia (39), Ghana (40). Sudan was found to be the least peaceful and was ranked second from last at 120, while Zimbabwe, a country choked by record inflation rates and internal conflict, came out at 106.

The report comes one week before the G8 summit in Germany.