Global conflicts cost an astonishing $14.3 trillion last year. This amounts to 13 per cent of total world GDP according to a report by the Institute for Economics and Peace(IEP).
The IEP is headquartered in Sydney, Australia but has branches in New York and Oxford. The IEP collaborates with many other organizations including the Aspen Institute, Economists for Peace and Securiy and the UN Global Compact. The IEP is supported by well-known people such as Kofi Annan, the Dalai Lama, Bishop Desmond Tutu, and US ex-president Jimmy Carter. The costs of global conflict is an amount equivalent to the value of production of Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Spain and the UK last year. The complete report can be found here.
As part of its report the IEP releases an annual Global Peace Index. For 2014 Iceland is number one with New Zealand coming in 2nd among 162 countries ranked. Canada is in the top 10 at ninth. The United States is far down the list at 101 but still far above Russia at 152. The United Kingdom is 48. Dead last is Iraq followed by Afghanistan with Syria also near the bottom. Libya saw the worst decline during the year. The Middle East and North Africa now rank as the world's most violent region overtaking South Asia. The number of deaths from terrorism has risen substantially.
The report estimates that 180,000 people were killed in conflicts last year. In 2010 there were just 49,000. If world violence were to decrease by just 10 per cent this would be an amount worth six times the value of the Greek bailout would be saved. It would be ten times the official development assistance that rich countries provide poor countries, and three times the total earnings of the 1.1 billion people who earn less than $1.25 per day.
Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/world/global-conflict-cost-13-per-cent-of-global-gdp-last-year/article/436153#ixzz3deqOIxZD
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