The least safe place, from a list of potential holiday destinations, is Jamaica. The homicide rate there is around 60 times higher than in Switzerland.
The rate of road traffic fatalities is an even bigger factor in the list of safest countries, compiled by Which? Travel and based on data from consultancy STC.
In Switzerland there are 3.3 road traffic deaths per 100,000 – lower even than other very safe places such as Iceland, Norway, Finland and Portugal.
The STC index also takes into account political violence, but statistics suggest that dangerous driving is much more of a risk to your safety on holiday than terrorists.
The world’s safest holiday destinations
Unsurprisingly, the majority of the 10 safest destinations in the list put together by Which? are in Europe. Iceland, Norway, Portugal and Slovenia make up the rest of the top five.
The exceptions in the top 10 are New Zealand and Singapore. Singapore has road traffic fatality rates that are around a 10th of those in Thailand, an excellent health system and a very low risk of natural disaster. It also has low homicide rates.
A darker side to its safe culture is an authoritarian streak, with anti-gay laws only being repealed this year.
New Zealand has higher road traffic fatalities than most other countries in the top 10, but it has a stable political culture and low homicide rates.
The world’s least safe places
At the bottom of the table, along with Jamaica, are Brazil, South Africa, the Philippines and Mexico. All have relatively high homicide rates, with Jamaica the worst at 35.2 per 100,000. The Philippines has a lower homicide rate of 10.5 per 100,000 but a higher risk of natural disaster (see below).
South Africa has long had an unfortunate reputation for violent crime, but our table shows that its rates of road traffic fatalities per 100,000 are almost as bad.
Many of the countries above Mexico in the middle of the table, such as Thailand, India, Vietnam, Tunisia, Jordan, Sri Lanka and Cape Verde, have relatively low homicide rates – but much higher traffic death rates.
How to stay safe on holiday
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO)’s detailed advice for every country in the world should be your starting point when making a trip to an unfamiliar country.
The NHS Fit For Travel (fitfortravel.nhs.uk/home) adds useful data on disease risk.
The least safe country for female travellers
Women can sometimes have a different experience when travelling than men. While data is extremely difficult to quantify, Which? used an index produced by travel agency the Sole Female Travellers Club.
It labelled Egypt as the least safe country for women, taking into account warnings from US and UK government authorities and also its own survey data. Iceland was listed as the safest country for women.
Where is safest – France, Greece, Italy, Portugal or Spain?
Unsurprisingly, Europe has most of the safest countries in the world, but there are differences between some of the UK’s favourite holiday destinations.
The safest of the five, according to STC, is Portugal. It combines very low homicide rates with great political stability. Spain is also very safe, with even lower homicide and road traffic risks. However, as the STC index takes into account the risk of political instability, it may lose points for its separatist movements.
Below Spain come France and Italy, with similar scores.
Greece is surprisingly low in the table, perhaps because of islands such as Lesvos’s position on the frontline of the refugee crisis. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) also still has warnings of political violence at demonstrations.
Which is safer – the UK or the US?
The UK has the distinction of being one of the best countries in the world for road traffic mortality, with 2.9 deaths per 100,000 (only Sweden is better in our table). Homicide rates are also relatively low, at 1.3 per 100,000. Despite this it’s below countries such as France, Spain and Italy.
The US appears even further down the table, below other countries in the Americas such as Canada and Chile, as well as Morocco and Israel. It has a homicide rate of 5.3 per 100,000 and traffic mortality that’s almost twice as high at 10.6 per 100,000.
Best and worst countries for essential health services
Our table also takes into account data from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation on how well countries provide essential health services.
While based on pre-pandemic statistics, it does show a stark difference between the best country, Iceland, with a score of 95.3, and the worst, Kenya, with 51.6.
Best and worst countries for risk of natural disasters
Natural disasters, such as earthquakes, hurricanes and cyclones can be extremely hard to predict, but our table includes estimates by the German agency World Risk Report.
The worst country for natural disaster risk is the Philippines, at 26.7 according to the World Risk Report. The FCDO warns that there are around 20 typhoons each year, as well as earthquakes and volcanoes ‘which can erupt without warning’.
The safest country for natural disaster risk is Barbados, with a score of just 1.32.
Countries rated
| Safety Index | Natural disaster (lower = better) | Road traffic mortality per 100,000 | Homicide per 100,000 | Terrorism risk (FCDO rating) | Essential health services (higher = better) | Overall female safety score (lower = better) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SWITZERLAND | 0.95 | 2.37 | 3.3 | 0.6 | Can't be ruled out | 93.5 | 1.2 |
| ICELAND | 0.93 | 1.52 | 4.6 | 1.3 | No recent history | 95.3 | 1 |
| NORWAY | 0.93 | 2.19 | 3.8 | 0.7 | Likely | 94.2 | 1.1 |
| PORTUGAL | 0.9 | 3.45 | 7.8 | 1.1 | Can't be ruled out | 83.5 | 1.5 |
| SLOVENIA | 0.9 | 3.41 | 6.4 | 0.6 | No recent history | 89.8 | 1.1 |
| FINLAND | 0.89 | 2.21 | 4.8 | 1.6 | Can't be ruled out | 91.3 | 1.1 |
| NEW ZEALAND | 0.89 | 4.55 | 6 | 1.2 | Can't be ruled out | 83 | 1.1 |
| DENMARK | 0.88 | 2.89 | 3.5 | 1.1 | Can't be ruled out | 84.1 | 1.6 |
| SINGAPORE | 0.88 | 2.27 | 3.6 | 2.7 | Likely | 92.4 | 1.1 |
| AUSTRIA | 0.88 | 3.39 | 5.4 | 1 | Can't be ruled out | 86.4 | 1.1 |
| GERMANY | 0.87 | 2.95 | 4.3 | 0.7 | Highly likely | 86.2 | 1.7 |
| SWEDEN | 0.87 | 2.12 | 2.8 | 1.2 | Can't be ruled out | 90.4 | 1.2 |
| AUSTRALIA | 0.86 | 4.22 | 5.4 | 0.9 | Likely | 89.4 | 1.3 |
| CANADA | 0.86 | 3.01 | 6 | 1.8 | Likely | 90.3 | 1.1 |
| SPAIN | 0.86 | 3.05 | 3.7 | 0.8 | Likely | 90 | 1.9 |
| BELGIUM | 0.85 | 3.07 | 6.7 | 1.1 | Likely | 87.3 | 1.8 |
| CZECH REPUBLIC | 0.84 | 3.37 | 6.1 | 0.7 | No recent history | 81.9 | 1.3 |
| NETHERLANDS | 0.84 | 8.24 | 3.4 | 0.7 | Likely | 89.6 | 1.7 |
| ITALY | 0.83 | 4.42 | 6.1 | 0.9 | Can't be ruled out | 88.9 | 1.6 |
| FRANCE | 0.83 | 2.62 | 5.1 | 0.9 | Very likely | 90.8 | 2 |
| CYPRUS | 0.8 | 2.68 | 5.2 | 2.2 | Can't be ruled out | 79.6 | 1.4 |
| ESTONIA | 0.8 | 2.36 | 7 | 4.4 | Can't be ruled out | 82 | 1.2 |
| HUNGARY | 0.8 | 5.32 | 7.7 | 1.2 | No recent history | 72 | 1.3 |
| UK | 0.8 | 3.54 | 2.9 | Not rated by FCDO but 'substantial' according to UK security services. | 87.9 | 1.8 | |
| BARBADOS | 0.79 | 1.32 | 6.7 | 10.1 | No recent history | 61.2 | - |
| BULGARIA | 0.79 | 4.22 | 8.3 | 1.5 | Can't be ruled out | 62.6 | 1.7 |
| CROATIA | 0.79 | 3.97 | 9.2 | 1 | Can't be ruled out | 78.9 | 1.3 |
| POLAND | 0.79 | 3.2 | 10.3 | 0.9 | Can't be ruled out | 72.7 | 1.4 |
| JAPAN | 0.78 | 12.99 | 4.7 | 0.3 | Can't be ruled out | 96.3 | 1.8 |
| ROMANIA | 0.78 | 5.92 | 8.7 | 1.5 | Can't be ruled out | 69.6 | 1.7 |
| LATVIA | 0.77 | 3.31 | 10 | 6.7 | Can't be ruled out | 69.8 | 1.2 |
| UNITED ARAB EMIRATES | 0.77 | 1.97 | 10.9 | 3.7 | Likely | 63.4 | 2.1 |
| LITHUANIA | 0.76 | 2.92 | 10.6 | 6.8 | Can't be ruled out | 70.4 | 1.2 |
| SERBIA | 0.74 | 7.12 | 7.7 | 1.7 | Can't be ruled out | 63.3 | 2 |
| SEYCHELLES | 0.74 | 2.55 | 8.6 | 10.2 | No recent history | 61.5 | 1.5 |
| CHILE | 0.73 | 11.65 | 12.4 | 4.6 | Can't be ruled out | 74.3 | 2.1 |
| MAURITIUS | 0.73 | 15.53 | 12.2 | 2.7 | Can't be ruled out | 55.8 | 1.2 |
| MONTENEGRO | 0.73 | 4 | 11.9 | 2.6 | Can't be ruled out | 66 | 1.3 |
| GREECE | 0.71 | 6.7 | 9.1 | 2 | Likely | 80.1 | 1.3 |
| MOROCCO | 0.71 | 6.45 | 20.8 | 1.6 | Very likely | 58 | 2.1 |
| ISRAEL | 0.7 | - | 3.6 | 2 | Very likely | 81.4 | 2.2 |
| UNITED STATES | 0.7 | 3.76 | 10.6 | 5.3 | Very likely | 82.1 | 2.1 |
| ALBANIA | 0.67 | 9.5 | 15.1 | 4.1 | Can't be ruled out | 69.6 | 1.8 |
| CUBA | 0.67 | - | 7.5 | 4.9 | No recent history | 72.6 | 2.2 |
| BAHAMAS | 0.65 | 4.14 | 13.8 | 23.7 | No recent history | 60.1 | 1.9 |
| BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA | 0.65 | - | 17.7 | 3.1 | Can't be ruled out | 64.2 | 2 |
| JORDAN | 0.65 | 4.58 | 26.3 | 3 | Likely | 70 | 1.7 |
| SRI LANKA | 0.64 | 7.32 | 17.4 | 3.1 | Likely | 65.6 | 2.6 |
| TUNISIA | 0.64 | 5.4 | 24.4 | 1.6 | Very likely | 68.1 | 2.2 |
| VIETNAM | 0.62 | - | 24.5 | 3.9 | No recent history | 59.7 | 1.5 |
| CAPE VERDE | 0.61 | - | 26.1 | 5.9 | No recent history | 62.2 | - |
| COSTA RICA | 0.57 | 17 | 13.9 | 9.2 | Can't be ruled out | 79 | 1.9 |
| TURKEY | 0.57 | 5.2 | 8.9 | 2.4 | Very likely | 69.2 | 2.2 |
| INDIA | 0.56 | 6.64 | 16.6 | 4 | Very likely | 46.8 | 2.3 |
| PERU | 0.55 | 6.59 | 13.9 | 14.6 | Very likely | 75.8 | 2.1 |
| EGYPT | 0.53 | 2.29 | 12.8 | 5 | Very likely | 54.8 | 2.7 |
| THAILAND | 0.48 | 6.19 | 36.2 | 4 | Very likely | 71.6 | 1.7 |
| THE GAMBIA | 0.48 | - | 29.4 | 9.1 | Can't be ruled out | 48.1 | 1.5 |
| KENYA | 0.46 | 6.77 | 29.1 | 8.2 | Very likely | 51.6 | 2.6 |
| MEXICO | 0.38 | 5.97 | 12.3 | 19 | No recent history | 61.4 | 2.2 |
| PHILIPPINES | 0.35 | 26.7 | 10.5 | 11.6 | Very likely | 54.7 | 2.3 |
| SOUTH AFRICA | 0.35 | 5.58 | 25.1 | 26.2 | Very likely | 59.7 | 2.1 |
| BRAZIL | 0.34 | 4.09 | 23.4 | 30.5 | Can't be ruled out | 64.8 | 2.3 |
| JAMAICA | 0.31 | - | 11.5 | 35.2 | No recent history | 56.8 | 2.3 |
source https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/what-are-the-worlds-safest-holiday-destinations-anpiV6y3Aw8s