The 2021 Global Peace Index (GPI) has ranked South Sudan 4 among 163 independent nations and territories, according to its level of peacefulness. South Sudan was ranked the forth least peaceful country in the world in 2020, but in 2021 it moved to the first least peaceful nation in Africa overthrowing Somalia from the throne.

In the report released yesterday, South Sudan finished with 160 points in Africa and was graded low on the state of peace out of very high, high, medium, low and very low on the chart.

Somalia came second with 158 points.

Iceland remains the most peaceful country in the world, a position it has held since 2008. It is joined at the top of the index by New Zealand, Denmark, Portugal and Slovenia. Mauritius is the most peaceful African country ranked 28th, followed by Ghana (38), Botswana (41), Sierra Leone (46) and The Gambia (53).

Afghanistan remained the world’s least peaceful country in the world for the fourth year in a row, followed by Yemen, Syria, South Sudan and Iraq.

The GPI, produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), measures the state of peace in countries. It assesses countries in three domains, including the level of societal safety and security, the extent of ongoing domestic and international conflict and the degree of militarisation.

Describing the situation, the report said South Sudan continues to face challenges on both safety and security and ongoing conflict domains.