Romania ranks 40th among the most peaceful countries in the world, up five spots compared to 2010, according to the most recent Global Peace Index on 2011. Romania was the seventh most peaceful country in the Central and Eastern European region , after countries like the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Croatia. The Baltic countries rank below Romania, and so are Italy, Bulgaria, Greece and Cyprus. Iceland is the most peaceful country in the world, followed by the New Zealand, Japan, Denmark and the Czech Republic.

The study shows that the world is a less peaceful place, for the third year in a row, but the peace climate deterioration was lower than between 2009 and 2010. The main factors which led to a further deterioration were terrorist attacks and the probability of violent strikes.

The Global Peace Index is issued by the Institute for Economy and Peace (IEP) and allows to forecast international and domestic conflicts, the safety level in 153 countries based on 23 different criteria.

Do you agree with the CEE ranking and with Romania's position? How safe do you feel in Romania? Feel free to comment below or to send us your comments by e-mail.

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