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Somalia has shown a slow but steady improvement in the Global Peace Index over the past decade, with the 2025 report marking another small step forward. The country now ranks 151st out of 163 nations, with a score of 2.983. This is a modest improvement from last year’s 3.023 and the first time in nearly twenty years that Somalia’s score has fallen below 3.0. Although this signals some progress, the country still remains among the least peaceful in the world.
The Global Peace Index, produced by the Institute for Economics & Peace in Sydney, measures peace in three key areas: societal safety and security, ongoing conflict, and militarisation. Somalia’s results reflect a country still struggling with insecurity, terrorism, and weak governance. While the overall score shows some improvement, Somalia continues to face widespread violence, large-scale displacement, and limited stability.
Looking back, Somalia has been ranked in the index since 2008. At its lowest point in 2012, during the height of the al-Shabaab insurgency, the country was placed at 162 out of 163, just one place from the bottom. Since then, conditions have shifted slowly from all-out warfare in major cities to a prolonged insurgency and attempts at political stabilisation. This gradual shift explains why Somalia’s peace score has improved from 3.34 in 2010 to today’s 2.983.
The government’s ongoing military campaigns, launched in 2022 alongside allied militias, have reduced some of the bloodshed. Conflict fatalities dropped by more than 70 percent in 2023 compared to the previous year, which played a role in the improved ranking. However, al-Shabaab continues to carry out major attacks, and the threat of terrorism remains high. Somalia’s score for safety and security barely changed, standing at 3.134, reflecting the daily realities of violence and weak policing. On ongoing conflict, the score was 3.542, one of the worst globally. Somalia’s better score in militarisation, 1.811, does not represent real stability but rather limited military capacity and low defense spending.
The Global Peace Index also highlights the cost of violence. For Somalia, this economic burden is massive. In 2024, violence consumed 24.71 percent of the nation’s GDP, one of the six highest ratios in the world. For ordinary citizens, this translates into soaring food prices, high transport costs, and a strained national budget. With so much money directed toward security, little remains for essential services such as healthcare or education. In 2019, for example, nearly one-third of Somalia’s federal budget—about US $107 million—was spent on the security sector, and almost half of all government wages went to security forces. Economists warn that unless Somalia achieves long-term peace, the country’s young population will continue to face unemployment and may be drawn into cycles of radicalisation.
Globally, the economic cost of violence in 2024 reached nearly $20 trillion, equal to 11.6 percent of the world’s GDP. Since 2008, the financial losses caused by war, terrorism, and displacement have more than tripled, showing the devastating global impact of insecurity.
Within the Horn of Africa, Somalia’s situation stands out. The country’s score of 2.983 is worse than Kenya’s 2.392 and Djibouti’s 2.276, both of which are ranked far higher in peacefulness. However, Somalia does rank slightly better than South Sudan at 3.117 and Mali at 3.061. Across Sub-Saharan Africa, the average score is 2.299, highlighting just how far Somalia still has to go to match its regional neighbours.
The region as a whole has also experienced setbacks, with political unrest and terrorism in the Central Sahel driving much of the deterioration. Three of the world’s ten least peaceful countries are located in Sub-Saharan Africa, underlining the severe challenges facing the continent.
While Somalia’s position on the Global Peace Index is still troubling, the slight improvement offers a sign of hope. Continued efforts to reduce violence and strengthen governance could help the country climb higher in the years ahead. For now, however, Somalia remains one of the most fragile states in the world, with peace still out of reach for millions of its people.