Ethiopia has been ranked 143rd out of 163 countries in the 2026 Positive Peace Index (PPI) released by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), an independent think tank.
Categorized in the “Low” positive peace status group, Ethiopia recorded a PPI score of 3.816, reflecting a slight deterioration of 0.9 percent from its 2015 score of 3.782 and an overall rank change drop of five places over the past decade.
Positive Peace as described by the IEP refers to a transformational concept, which places peace at the center of national wellbeing regardless of a country’s current state of development.
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To build and sustain long-term peaceful societies, the IEP framework outlines eight pillars of positive peace that act as essential requirements for societal resilience and development, such as a sound business environment, equitable distribution of resources, formal protection of civil liberties and individual rights, good relations with neighbors, and low levels of corruption.
In addition, free flow of information (open media environments) and high levels of human capital are among the requirements.
Meanwhile, neighboring Kenya ranked 108th in the PPI in the “medium” peace tier, with a score improvement of 2.3 percent to 3.414.
Sudan and South Sudan rank near the bottom of the index in the “low” status tier, with 162nd and 155th ranks, respectively. Somalia and Eritrea remain in the lowest performance brackets under the PPI, driven by severe institutional and structural challenges, with 163rd and 156th ranks, respectively.
Djibouti, on the other hand, maintains a higher relative position than most of its immediate neighbors in the Horn of Africa, though it remains in the “Lower-middle” tier with a 139th rank.
