Due to its data cut-off date, the latest edition of the Global Peace Index (2026) has been able to capture only very partially the impact of the Iran war and its related aggressions and risks. Even so, this index, prepared by the Institute for Economics and Peace, presents clear evidence that the world is becoming an increasingly dangerous place, with conflicts and wars on the rise. The report states clearly that geopolitical risks now exceed the levels seen during the Cold War.
Although not all aspects of the report can be fully appreciated because of its Western bias and limited framework, which cannot capture all the important dimensions of peace and war, some of the facts and statistics highlighted in the report are certainly very important and relevant.
More specifically, the report tells us that there are now more active state-based conflicts than at any other point since the end of the Second World War. In 2008, the number of countries involved in at least one external conflict during the preceding five years was 59. In the latest Global Peace Index of 2026, this number has risen to 103.
According to the Index, global peacefulness has declined for 12 consecutive years. In 2025, there were 117 million forcibly displaced people. The share of state-based conflicts ending in peace agreements was 23% in the 1970s; this had fallen to just 4% in the 2010s.
Pointing to the risks of wars widening, the report says: “With wars becoming more internationalized and harder to end, the risk of conflicts spreading and forming conflict clusters is increasing.”
The economic impact of violence on the global economy was calculated in the report at US$21.8 trillion in terms of purchasing power parity, equivalent to about 11% of global GDP, or US$2,657 per person.
Expenditure on peacebuilding and peacekeeping was found to be US$49 billion, or just 0.5% of global military expenditure in terms of purchasing power parity.
As many as 565 armed groups were involved in at least one drone attack between 2018 and 2025. Recorded drone strikes increased 115-fold between 2018 and 2025.
Expressing serious concern regarding the military use of AI, the report says:
“Target to fire times using AI have fallen from around one day with cruise missiles in the 1990s to as little as 5 seconds with autonomous selection systems used in Ukraine and Iran. The increasing use of AI in warfare is raising concerns about the erosion of meaningful human foresight in lethal decision making. For example algorithmic targeting in Gaza compressed the human review of AI generated targets to roughly 20 seconds per strike, with one Israeli Defense Force system flagging 37,000 Palestinians as suspected militants, despite a 10% known error rate and many strikes resulting in heavy civilian casualties.”
Clearly, these are highly worrying facts, and the Global Peace Index has done well to draw attention to them. Nevertheless, the reality of wars and violence in our deeply troubled world cannot be understood on the basis of this global index alone, as the report reflects a strong Western bias.
This is evident from the Index rankings, in which several countries that, while maintaining their distance from actually fighting wars, have played an instigating role—by inciting proxy wars, providing weapons, or acting as junior partners of the most aggressive powers—have nevertheless been given very high rankings. At the same time, countries that have been unjust victims of the aggression of others, such as Cuba and Iraq, have been given very low rankings.
Former colonial powers that inflicted enormous violence at the global level, or benefited from colonialism and neo-colonialism with all their inherent violence, are placed at the higher levels of this Index.
What the world needs is not just peace, but peace based on justice, because only justice-based peace is sustainable in the longer term. A truly useful guide to the world's peace situation and its prospects would be one that accurately reflects who is really most responsible for violence and wars and exposes these responsibilities clearly.
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The writer is Honorary Convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now. His recent books include Planet in Peril and Man over Machine. His website is bharatdogra.in and his YouTube channel is Bharat Dogra | Save Earth Campaign
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