Global conflict cost 13.4 percent of global gross domestic product, or $14.3 trillion, in 2014, according to a report from the Institute for Economics and Peace.
The report from the Australia-based group found that the cost of war and conflict is equal to the combined economies of Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Spain and the U.K. The global cost of conflict has increased by 15.3 percent since 2008, when the economic impact was $12.4 trillion.
"Large increases in costs are due to the increases in deaths from internal conflict, increases for IDP [internally displaced people] and refugee support, and GDP losses from conflict, with the latter accounting for 38 percent of the increase since 2008," the report says.
The cost of supporting refugees and internally displaced people has risen by 267 percent since 2008 as the number of forcibly displaced people continues to increase to beyond the highest levels seen since World War II, according to the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR. The cost of deaths from internal conflicts has increased by 378 percent from 2008, according to the report.
The military accounts for 43 percent of the total cost of conflicts; homicide and violent crime costs 27 percent and internal security officers, which includes police, costs 18 percent, according to the report. Europe, North America, sub-Saharan Africa and Central America and the Caribbean were regions that saw improvements in peace, but five regions, notably the Middle East and North Africa, which are considered the most violent regions in the world, became less peaceful according to the report. Europe remains the most peaceful region in the world.
Syria, where an ongoing civil war entered its fifth year this March, is the world's least peaceful country, followed by Iraq, Afghanistan, South Sudan and the Central African Republic. Libya saw the largest deterioration of its score and the worsening situation in Yemen also dragged down the overall outlook for the Middle East.
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Before joining Newsweek, Lucy Westcott was an editorial fellow at The Wire. Previously a United Nations correspondent for the Inter ... Read more
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