1. Syria
Syria, which ranked as the least peaceful country in 2016 and 2016, is in the middle of a refugee crisis. An estimated 13.5 million Syrian civilians have fled war (and more than 6 million have been internally displaced) since the start of the country's civil war in 2011. It has been ranked amongst the world’s five least peaceful countries since the 2013 Global Peace Index.
Regionally, the Middle East and North Africa remained the least peaceful region in the world in the 2017 index. Over the past year, Syria incurred the largest cost of violence as a percentage of its GDP at 67%. Globally, violence costs 12.6% of the world's GDP.