in the United States cost $103.8 billion in 2007. (7) On April 4, 2012, the Institute for Economics and Peace released the United States Peace Index, which assesses peacefulness at the State and city levels and analyzes the costs associated with violence and the socio-economic measures associated with peace. While violence within the United States has declined since the year 2015, violence and violence containment still cost the average taxpayer $6,417 per year. The total cost of violence to the United States—including lost productivity from violence—is conservatively calculated to be over $460 billion. (8) A 2015 study by the Institute for Economics and Peace reports conservative estimates that 12 percent of the gross domestic product of the United States was spent on containing violence. The study included government, corporate, and individual expenditures, regardless of whether the expenditure was related to international affairs such as offshore military activities, or domestic spending such as dealing with crime and the consequences of crime. (9) Violence prevention is cost effective. For every dollar spent on violence prevention and peacebuilding, thousands of lives and dollars are saved. Research indicates that investing early to prevent conflicts from escalating into violent crises is, on average, 60 times more cost effective than intervening after violence erupts. The philosophy and techniques of nonviolence and the science of peacebuilding provide tools and techniques that can be applied not only at the levels of individual and community growth, but also within the Federal Government and at national and international levels. (10) The United Nations recognizes that promotion of peace is vital for the full enjoyment of all human rights and the United Nations Declaration on the Right of Peoples to Peace mandates that preservation of the right to peace is a fundamental obligation of each country. In 1999, the United Nations adopted a Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace, stating that a culture of