Norway most peaceful.

A 2005 report by the World Policy Institute states that most of the U.S.' arms sales to developing countries go to governments that the U.S. State Department qualifies as undemocratic, such as Pakistan, Angola and Saudi Arabia. Presently, U.S. military expenditures equal those of the next 25 countries put together. According to the Stockholm Peace Research Institute, military global spending in 2004 was over $1 trillion. Of that amount, almost 47 percent was spent by the U.S.

Domestic indicators included the number of people in prisons, relations with other countries, level of distrust in other citizens and number of violent crimes. The results were then reviewed by a panel of experts, who tried to find out the qualities that lead to a more peaceful environment.

The U.S., which occupied the 96th place, was just ahead of Iran, classified in the 97th place but behind Syria, which was in the 77 place. Russia and Israel occupied the 118th and 119th place respectively. U.S. involvement in Iraq and its doctrine of preemptive war, essentially flaunting international law, contributed to the U.S.'s poor showing. It studied 121 countries, from Algiers to Zimbabwe and it was released less than one week before the G8 leaders gather in Germany to discuss issues of global concern.

The results of the Index confirm a previous study carried out by several newspapers around the world, including the Guardian in Britain, Haaretz in Israel, La Presse and Toronto Star in Canada and Reforma in Mexico. The study found that 62% of Canadians and 57% of Mexicans believe that the world has become more dangerous because of U.S. policies.

That study also showed the British voters considered President George Bush as a greater danger to peace than either the North Korean leader Kim Jong-il or even the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. It is a paradoxical finding that countries that were called part of an "axis of evil" are considered less dangerous to world peace than the U.S. itself. While 87% of British voters in that study considered that Osama bin Laden is a great or moderate threat to peace, 75% think the same of President George Bush.