MPSC 2025 Prelims Paper-I · Question 87 of 100

The Commission cancelled this question. It is one of two questions struck out of this paper — Q48 and Q87 — and for a cancelled question the final key credits no option at all, so there is no correct ordering to explain and this card does not attempt to reconstruct which ranking the Commission originally intended. The topic behind the question is real and worth having regardless of the cancellation. The Global Peace Index is an annual report produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace, published through its Vision of Humanity platform, that ranks nations by their relative state of peacefulness using 23 qualitative and quantitative indicators grouped into three broad domains: the level of societal safety and security, the extent of ongoing domestic and international conflict, and the degree of militarisation. The four countries named in this question — Ireland, Austria, Iceland and New Zealand — are all consistently placed among the most peaceful nations in the world in recent editions of the index, with Iceland in particular having held the number-one position continuously since 2008, the longest unbroken run at the top of any country in the index's history. Beyond that general placement, this card does not assert or reconstruct any specific rank order among the four, because doing so would mean guessing at the answer the Commission itself withdrew.

The Global Peace Index is produced annually by the Institute for Economics and Peace and published on its Vision of Humanity platform. It measures the relative peacefulness of nations and territories using 23 indicators drawn from reputable international sources, organised into three domains: ongoing domestic and international conflict, societal safety and security, and militarisation. A lower Global Peace Index score, and a correspondingly lower rank number, indicates a more peaceful country — the country ranked 1st is judged the most peaceful in the world for that edition of the report. The index has been published since 2007 and is widely cited in current-affairs preparation for its snapshot of comparative national peacefulness, even though the precise ordering of countries close together in the rankings can shift from one edition to the next.

MPSC and UPSC both draw current-affairs questions from major international indices of this kind — the Global Peace Index alongside the Human Development Index, the Corruption Perceptions Index, and the World Press Freedom Index — because they generate a fresh, checkable ranking every year and lend themselves naturally to ordering and matching questions. This particular question was withdrawn by the Commission, which is itself informative: close rankings among countries that sit within a few index points of each other are exactly the kind of factual detail most likely to be challenged during an objection window, since the source report's own year, edition or exact figures can be read in more than one way once several countries are bunched near the top.

• The Global Peace Index is published annually by the Institute for Economics and Peace via its Vision of Humanity platform, and has been produced since 2007.
• It scores and ranks countries using 23 indicators grouped into three domains: ongoing conflict, societal safety and security, and militarisation.
• A lower score and rank number indicates greater peacefulness; the country ranked 1st is judged the most peaceful in that edition.
• Iceland has held the number-one position in the Global Peace Index continuously since 2008, the longest unbroken run of any country.
• Ireland, Austria and New Zealand are also regularly placed among the small group of countries at the very top of the index, alongside Iceland, in recent editions.

• Treating a cancelled question as evidence that the underlying topic is unimportant or unlikely to reappear — the Global Peace Index is a recurring current-affairs theme regardless of this one withdrawn question
• Trying to reconstruct 'the answer MPSC must have intended' for a cancelled ordering question — a candidate should not walk out of the exam hall having convinced themselves of a specific rank order that was never confirmed
• Confusing the Global Peace Index (most peaceful nations, Institute for Economics and Peace) with other indices that rank broadly similar sets of high-income countries, such as the Human Development Index (UNDP) or the World Happiness Report (Gallup and partners)

MPSC and UPSC both like ascending or descending order questions built from a recent global index, typically drawing four countries that sit close together near the top or bottom of that year's rankings. The safeguard against exactly the kind of dispute that led to this question's cancellation is to hold the single most memorable anchor fact for each major index — for the Global Peace Index, that anchor is Iceland's unbroken run at rank 1 since 2008 — rather than trying to memorise the precise order of several closely bunched countries, which can shift between editions and is the detail most likely to be challenged.

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Global Peace Index is published annually by which organisation ?

  • (a)United Nations Development Programme
  • (b)Institute for Economics and Peace
  • (c)World Economic Forum
  • (d)Transparency International

  Answer(b) Institute for Economics and Peace — it produces the Global Peace Index annually and publishes it via its Vision of Humanity platform. The UNDP publishes the Human Development Index, the World Economic Forum publishes reports such as the Global Gender Gap Index, and Transparency International publishes the Corruption Perceptions Index.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which country has held the number-one, most-peaceful position in the Global Peace Index continuously since 2008 ?

  • (a)Iceland
  • (b)Ireland
  • (c)New Zealand
  • (d)Denmark

  Answer(a) Iceland — it has topped the Global Peace Index without interruption since 2008, the longest unbroken run at rank 1 of any country in the index's history. Ireland, New Zealand and Denmark are regularly placed near the top but have not matched Iceland's continuous run at first place.