Violence continues to affect parts of the region

Costa Rica, Panama and Nicaragua head the list, when it comes tomeasuring the level of peace in Central America.
 
However, problems persist even in these countries, where the level of violent deaths is comparable with that of the other nations of the isthmus, according to the Global Peace Index 2012, published a couple of months ago.

Where the three countries differ is by having better conditions in other areas, including access to weapons, internal and external conflicts, and political stability.

The world leader is Iceland, followed by Denmark, New Zealand and Canada.

For its part, the worst countries are Somalia, Afghanistan, Sudan, Iraq and Congo.


The ranking shows the position of each Central American country - figures closest to 1000 are best.

1. Costa Rica (1659)
2. Panama (1899)
3. Nicaragua (2006)
4. El Salvador (2220)
5. Guatemala (2287)