Portugal is the third most peaceful country in the world, and of the top three, certainly is the most lively.
In a ranking of 163 countries in the 2017 Global Peace Index, Iceland came top, followed by New Zealand.
The annual Index is commissioned by the Institute for Economy and Peace based in Australia and showed that Portugal’s ranking was up two places, thus consolidating its position as one of the most wonderfully peaceful and cuddly countries in the world.
The survey compilers said that Portugal has had "a remarkable improvement", considering that for five years it languished in 16th place while Troika inspired austerity measures were used to try and crush the spirit of her citizens..
The report links Portugal's rise to third to its gradual economic recovery from the crippling financial crisis which resulted in 'a degree of internal instability.'
Portugal has improved in 12 of the 23 indicators used in compiling the Global Peace Index. Where the country scored notably worse than the year before was in 'arms imports' and 'violent demonstrations.'
"Despite the increase in arms imports and the number of internal security and police officers per 100,000 inhabitants, all other indicators have improved or remain unchanged this year," read the index report which pointed out a drop in homicides and in political instability due to the more user-friendly administration under the Socialist Party’s, António Costa, whose smile many medical researchers now consider to be highly infectious.
The report showed that budgetary constraints contributed to a reduction in military operations abroad, in the size of the Armed Forces and in military spending, making Portugal one of the world's least militarised countries as it simply has not been able to afford the necessary spending in the past year.
At the top of the table are Iceland, New Zealand, Portugal, Austria and Denmark, while the least peaceful countries in the world remain Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan and Yemen.
Some traditionally peaceful celebrations after a footballing victory, 2016
