According to the 18th edition of the Global Peace Index (GPI) released on Tuesday, the UAE has experienced the most significant increase in peacefulness globally, rising by 31 positions. The country now ranks 53rd in 2024. The report's author, Steve Killelea, a foreign policy analyst, noted that since 2021, the UAE has enhanced its diplomatic and commercial connections with Iran and Türkiye, and has also bolstered its diplomatic ties across the region and into South Asia. The Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), an international think-tank, is responsible for publishing the report. The UAE has shown progress in all three GPI domains: militarisation, ongoing conflict, and safety and security. Its overall score has improved by approximately nine percent, with enhancements in 10 indicators, two deteriorations, and 11 indicators remaining unchanged. Killelea added that the UAE has very low perceptions of criminality internally, and its scores for political terror scale and terrorism impact have improved over the past year. The report highlights that the UAE's ranking surge was most pronounced in the ongoing conflict domain, attributed to improvements in deaths from internal conflict and relations with neighboring countries. The UAE has notably enhanced its relations with key regional adversaries in recent years, increasing diplomatic and commercial ties with Iran and Türkiye, and leveraging its financial strength to improve relations across the broader region, including East Africa and South Asia. There was also an improvement in the safety and security domain, with enhancements in both the terrorism impact and political terror scale scores. The UAE also saw a significant improvement in the militarisation domain. The study also mentioned that the UAE, along with Saudi Arabia and other middle powers, are more actively participating in global affairs. In contrast, due to the Gaza war, Israel's ranking dropped to an all-time low of 155th, marking the largest decline in peacefulness in 2024.