Armenia ranks as the 115^th country in the 2012 Global Peace Index (GPI), showing better results than its neighboring states in the region.

The index reveals that Armenia has climbed down by 150 points compared to last year when it ranked the 110^th in the list of 153 world countries.

Armenia’s South Caucasus neighbors – Georgia and Azerbaijan – rank the 141^st and 132^nd countries, respectively. Turkey is the 130^th, with Iran being the 128^th.
 

GPI has ranked countries, using 23 qualitative and quantitative indicators from highly respected sources, which gauge three broad themes: the level of safety and security in society; the extent of domestic or international conflict; and the degree of militarization.
 

According to the index, the world has improved in peacefulness for the first time since 2009. “All regions excluding the Middle East and North Africa saw an improvement. Sub-Saharan Africa does not occupy the bottom spot for the first time since the GPI was launched in 2007,” reads the document.
 

The ranking records progress in Latin America which, as the authors say, experienced an overall gain in peacefulness, with 16 of the 23 nations seeing improvements to their GPI scores since 2011.
 

The most peaceful region is Western Europe for the sixth consecutive year, with the majority of its countries ranking in the top 20. As for the Asia Pacific, its overall score is said to have improved by the largest margin over the 2011-2012 period.