Colombia shares the position with Venezuela as the least peaceful countries in Latin America. According to the Institute for Economics and Peace, the nation ranked 140th out of 163 countries, also making it one of the worst for security globally.
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Although Colombia obtained a small improvement in its general score of 0.045 compared to the previous year, from the institute they indicated that the country suffered a deterioration in political stability caused by social unrest and political polarization that generated the presidential elections of May 2022.
“There are tensions related to the deep divisions within Colombian society, even after the election of the current president Gustavo Petro,” the document indicates.
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Even after the elections, the country’s security is affected by polarization.
Nestor Gomez – WEATHER
The cost of violence in the Colombian economy
The study also explains that Colombia ranks eighth in the ‘ranking’ of the 10 countries most affected by the economic impacts of violence. It costs the country about 28.6 percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2022 to have to deal with this scenario.
Unlike countries like Ukraine, Afghanistan or Sudan, the high cost of violence in the country is not largely influenced by the armybut with the number of refugees and internally displaced persons, the report explains.
According to Migration figures, Colombia has welcomed about 2.48 million Venezuelan refugees, the appropriate number, according to government figures, It needs only in 2023 approximately 665 million dollars in aid or support.
Finally, and as derived data, the report also indicates that violence has a direct impact on the development of new companies. Well, in an analysis that was made of 730 enterprises in the country between 1997 and 2001, it was found that with higher levels of violence, new companies survived less.
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Costa Rica, the most peaceful in Latam
Costa Rica is the safest country in Latin America, ranking 39th and with a score of 1,731. Other nations such as Uruguay (50), Argentina (54), Chile (58), Panama and Paraguay (68) had moderately positive results in this index.
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Costa Rica is the safest Latin American country, according to a study.
In contrast, after Colombia and Venezuela, Brazil is the third least safe Latin American country, ranking 132; It is followed by Haiti (129), Nicaragua (123), El Salvador (122), Honduras (120), Peru (103), Cuba (99), Ecuador (97), the Dominican Republic (93) and Bolivia (78).
Iceland, the safest in the world
Regarding the global scenario, in this edition Iceland was listed as the safest country in the world, with a score of 1,124; It is followed by Denmark, with a score of 1,310; Ireland, against 1,312; New Zealand, with 1,313 and Austria with 1,316.
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Iceland is the safest country in the world.
At the extreme, Afghanistan ranks 163rd, with a score of 3,448 and an economy battered by internal conflict and political instability. In this line, it is followed by Yemen, Syria, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
JUAN DAVID CANO LOPERA
School of Multimedia Journalism EL TIEMPO
ECONOMY WRITING
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