PEACE

REGIONAL COMPOSITION OF ECONOMIC IMPACT OF VIOLENCE
The economic impact of violence
by type of expenditure is not evenly
distributed across regions, with large
variations in both the magnitude of
expenditure and its composition.
North America accounts for 30 per
cent of the global economic impact
of violence, which is almost entirely
attributed to the United States. The
next largest regional share comes from
Asia-Pacific, which was dominated by
China, contributing 17 per cent. This is
notably higher than Europe and MENA
which both account for 12 per cent of
the total.
FIGURE 16 REGIONAL ECONOMIC IMPACT OF VIOLENCE AS A
PROPORTION OF THE GLOBAL TOTAL
Developed regions incur high economic impacts from violence and
conflict due to higher spending on military and internal security.
North America
Asia-Pacific
Europe
MENA
South Asia
South America
Russia and Eurasia
Central America
and the Caribbean
Sub-Saharan Africa
4%
4%
5%
6%
9%
12%
12%
17%
30%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35%
Figure 16 illustrates regional costs
as proportion of the global economic
impact of violence.
Source: IEP
PERCENTAGE OF GLOBAL ECONOMIC IMPACT
In terms of the composition of costs, there are large
differences between regions. Most of the costs in North
America, Asia-Pacific and Europe are due to military
and internal security expenditure whereas sub-Saharan
Africa and Central America and the Caribbean suffer more
economically from the burden of interpersonal violence.
The highest proportion of military expenditure was
in North America, where it accounts for 78 per cent
of the total economic impact. Europe spends the most
proportionally on internal and private security, accounting
for 56 per cent of the economic impact of violence. In
contrast, Central America and the Caribbean has the
highest proportion of expenditure related to interpersonal
violence, at 57 per cent. The economic impact of homicide
in Venezuela and Honduras is the equivalent of 36 and 30
per cent of GDP respectively.
Losses from armed conflict represent the smallest
component of the four categories shown in figure 17.
FIGURE 17 REGIONAL PER CAPITA ECONOMIC IMPACT OF VIOLENCE BY SPENDING TYPE, 2015
The composition of the economic impact of violence varies greatly across the regions of the
world.
PROPORTION OF PER CAPITA ECONOMIC IMPACT
BY REGION 2015
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
6%
0%
16%
78%
North
America
11%
6%
18%
1%
33% 34%
50% 48%
28%
13%
22%
24%
2%
38% 37%
MENA Asia-Pacific South Asia Russia and
Eurasia
16%
1%
38% 56%
28%
Europe
43%
2%
32%
23%
Sub-Saharan
Africa
55% 57%
0%
25%
20%
South
America
2%
27%
14%
Central
America and
the Caribbean
Military Internal Security Armed conflict Violent crime
Source: IEP
THE ECONOMIC VALUE OF PEACE 2016 | Results & Trends 24