Direct cost of violence $7.16 trillion at PPP rates in 2014

By TNN | 20 Jun, 2015, 12.14PM IST, Source

One way to measure the value of peace is by calculating the cost of violence. Institute of Economics and Peace, an Australia based non-profit research organisation has devised a model to calculate it.

It includes variables like expenditure on security, police force, courts, jails, destruction of property and loss of life. Cost estimates also indicate how much money could have been redirected to productive economic activities in the absence of violence.

In 2014, the direct cost of violence was $7.16 trillion at PPP rates. In Syria, the total cost was a staggering 42 per cent of the country's GDP. In India, the cost is 5 per cent of our GDP.

In Syria, the total cost of peace was a staggering 42 per cent of the country's GDP while in India, the cost is 5 per cent of our GDP.