Positive Peace is defined as the attitudes, institutions and structures that create and sustain peaceful societies. The same factors that create lasting peace also lead to many other positive outcomes that societies aspire to, including:

• thriving economies
• better performance on ecological measures
• high levels of resilience and adaptability to change.

Other factors that improve with Positive Peace are measures of inclusiveness, wellbeing and happiness. Therefore, Positive Peace can be described as creating an optimal environment for human potential to flourish.

Positive Peace is conceptually and empirically linked to socio-economic resilience. Countries with high Positive Peace are more likely to maintain their stability and recover more easily from internal and external shocks. Through the modelling of the relationship between Positive Peace and the actual peace of a country, as measured through the Global Peace Index (GPI), it is possible to predict large falls in peace.

A model based on Positive Peace deficits was able to predict 90 per cent of the countries that would deteriorate in peace over the past decade. Additionally, seven of the ten largest falls on the GPI were also predicted by this model.

• Between 2013 and 2022, more countries have improved in Positive Peace than have deteriorated, with 108 registering improvements and 55 registering deteriorations.
• These improvements were mainly driven by improvements in the following Positive Peace Pillars: Free Flow of Information, Equitable Distribution of Resources, Acceptance of the Rights of Others, and High Levels of Human Capital.
• The three Pillars of Positive Peace to record deteriorations since 2013 were Good Relations with Neighbours, Well-Functioning Government and Low Levels of Corruption.
• Sound Business Environment recorded the smallest improvement, remaining almost unchanged.
• Positive Peace improved by 1 per cent globally from 2013 to 2022.
• The global PPI improved every year without interruption from 2013 to 2019. It experienced a noticeable decline in 2020, primarily attributed to the impact of COVID-19 and the global economic downturn resulting from pandemic-related policy measures. The global PPI has not yet recovered to its pre-pandemic level.
• Six out of the nine world regions improved in Positive Peace from 2013 to 2022, with North America, South America and MENA being the exceptions.
• Russia and Eurasia, South Asia, and Asia-Pacific had the largest regional improvements. All countries in these three regions recorded improvements in their PPI scores, except for Russia and Afghanistan, of which both recorded a two per cent deterioration, and Myanmar,
Belarus and Kyrgyz Republic, which remained nearly unchanged.
• Improvements in the PPI are mainly due to the Structures domain of Positive Peace, which has substantially improved since 2013.
• In contrast, the Attitudes domain deteriorated by 1.3 per cent globally from 2013 to 2022. Eighty-nine out of 163 countries deteriorated in this domain, reflecting increased polarisation of views on political and economic administration matters, as well as a deterioration in the quality of information disseminated to the public.
• The Institutions domain also deteriorated globally from 2013 to 2022, though by only 0.5 per cent.
• The largest improvements in Positive Peace occurred in Uzbekistan, Armenia, The Gambia, Taiwan and Ireland.
• The largest deteriorations in Positive Peace occurred in Brazil, Lebanon, Venezuela, Yemen and The United States.

• Positive Peace improved 2.4 per cent globally in the past decade.

• This improvement was mainly driven by the Structures domain of Positive Peace, which Key Findings improved by 8 per cent since 2009.

• Seven of the eight Pillars of Positive Peace improved since 2009, although the improvements in High Levels of Human Capital and Well-Functioning Government were minimal.

• Low Levels of Corruption was the only Pillar to deteriorate. This was either a reflection of greater corruption or an increase in awareness of it around the world.

• Almost all regions of the globe recorded improvements in Positive Peace over the past decade, with the Middle East and North Africa improving only marginally. The only region to record a deterioration was North America.

• The largest country improvements in the PPI over the decade were recorded for Uzbekistan, Georgia, Armenia, Côte d’Ivoire and Kazakhstan. The steepest deteriorations were in Syria, Libya, Venezuela, Yemen and South Sudan.