The Most Peaceful Country in Africa: Mauritius (2024 Global Peace Index)

According to the 2024 Global Peace Index (GPI) by the Institute for Economics & Peace, Mauritius is ranked the most peaceful country in Africa (global rank: **23rd out of 163**).

Top 10 Most Peaceful African Countries (GPI 2024)

Why Mauritius Leads

• No internal conflict: No civil war, insurgency, or communal violence since independence (1968)
• Stable democracy: Regular free elections, peaceful transfers of power, strong institutions
• Low militarization: No standing army; police + Special Mobile Force + Coast Guard (~2,500 personnel)
• Economic stability: Upper-middle income, diversified (tourism, finance, ICT, textiles), low inequality (Gini ~36)
• Social cohesion: Multiethnic (Indo-Mauritian, Creole, Sino-Mauritian, Franco-Mauritian) with constitutional power-sharing
• Rule of law: Independent judiciary, low corruption (CPI rank ~50/180)

Regional Context

• Southern Africa: Botswana (#3), Namibia (#6), Zambia (#5), Malawi (#9) — relatively peaceful cluster
• West Africa: Ghana (#4), Sierra Leone (#8) — democratic stability
• East Africa: Tanzania (#7) — standout; neighbors (Ethiopia, Somalia, DRC, Sudan) in bottom 20 globally
• North Africa: Tunisia (~75), Morocco (~85) — moderate; Libya, Sudan, Algeria lower

What the GPI Measures

23 indicators across 3 domains:

1. Ongoing Conflict (internal/external deaths, refugees, IDPs, relations)
2. Societal Safety (homicide, incarceration, police, protests, terrorism, political terror)
3. Militarization (expenditure, personnel, weapons, UN peacekeeping, nuclear/heavy)

Mauritius scores in the top quartile globally on all three—rare for any country, exceptional for Africa.

Caveats

• GPI measures absence of violence/fear of violence — not human rights, press freedom, or economic justice per se
• Mauritius faces challenges: drug trafficking, youth unemployment, climate vulnerability, Chagos sovereignty dispute
• "Most peaceful" ≠ "perfect" — but comparatively, it's the African benchmark

Mauritius: Africa's peace leader, 23rd worldwide.