Kenya is the 117th most peaceful country in the world according to the 2023 Global Peace Index published by the Institute of Economics and Peace.
In the report released on Wednesday, June 28, Kenya also took the 26th position in the Sub-Saharan African category, rising two positions compared to the previous year.
Thomas Morgan, the Associate Director of Research at the Institute, explained that intensive research was conducted countrywide. According to him, the significant steps the country had made justified the improvement.
Speaking during an interview with KTN on Thursday, June 29, Morgan stated that Kenya's outstanding factor was its timely remission of peacekeeping funding.
He noted that compared to the previous year, the government had made impressive strides in its remissions, especially to United Nations (UN) agencies.
“Improved and more timely payment of UN peacekeeping funding was also considered. That was one of the primary drivers of Kenya's improved ranking,” he stated.
Additionally, Morgan noted that the country had also recorded an improvement in how it handled terrorism.
This, he explained, was backed by militarisation indicators including the decrease in the number of law enforcement officers.
"Another factor was the impact of terrorism and a number of indicators of militarisation. The size of Kenya's law enforcement has decreased,” he added.
Further, the director of research observed that Kenya had shown improvement in upholding and ensuring proper execution of incarceration rights.
The fourth factor, he revealed, was that the country had also recorded a decrease in the number of homicides, indicating that the citizens were more peaceful.
“This can be attributed to a number of factors including improvements in incarceration rights in Kenya. A decrease in the homicide rate was also a factor. For example, Kenya now has a lower homicide rate than the United States,” he stated.
The most peaceful country as per the list was Iceland followed by Denmark and Ireland.
In the 2022 Global Peace Index, Kenya was ranked as the 120th most peaceful country in the world.
