The 25 Safest Countries In The

World
Iceland, New Zealand, Portugal, Austria, and Denmark make up the top five safest
countries in the world.

European countries take the lion's share of the top safest countries in the world, with
Iceland leading the way within this region.

Since 2009, the world has become a more dangerous place, at least according to the most
recent Global Peace Index. With a worsening atmosphere of insecurity developing
worldwide today, now more than ever before people are looking for safer places to live
in and travel to. We feel that by showcasing the top 25 safest countries in the world, we
can then look for common threads these share to find what could potentially make our
world a safer place as a whole. Among our biggest points of interest are the correlations
between safety and countries' respective intrinsic wealth per capita, educational access,
criminal justice systems, and social welfare.
European Domination
Out of the top 25 countries topping the list of the globe’s safest, 18 are European, with
several of the others in the top 25 hailing from Asia or Oceania. Canada alone
represents the Americas. Furthermore, Europe is also the only continent to have not
seen a decline in safety and security since 2009. Seeing almost no civil wars or state-
sponsored political violence truly makes Europe stand out as possibly the safest place
to live and visit. Moreover, as this list is formed by countries with near-full
democracies or otherwise well-represented republics, most of Europe’s nations proffer
unto their respective populaces high levels of freedom to express their political
opinion without fear, further increasing feelings of safety and security there.
According to the Global Study on Homicide, Europe, Oceania, and Asia have the
lowest regional murder rates, each at around 3 per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to
12.5 in Africa and 16.3 in the Americas. Such a disparate gap between these regions is
huge, and corresponds very well to the rankings discussed below.
Are Wealthier Countries Safer Countries?
While wealth may not yield happiness, it does indeed appear to breed a more secure
social environment. Analyses across a spectrum of different statistics show that living
in a ‘rich’ country, or a country with a well-developed economy, generally correlates
directly with positive senses of security therein. Only five of the safest countries
failed to place in top 30 countries with the highest per capita Gross Domestic
Products. In many places, it has been seen that when people are unemployed,
underemployed, or otherwise facing financial hardships, they will often resort to
violent crime, such as armed robbery, in order to better there situation. In fact, some
places in the world even have the problem of "career criminals" worsened by the fact
that those released from prison cannot find good jobs. This leads to a self-perpetuating
cycle as criminals are forced to return to crime to keep their heads above water, with
little fear of being put into prison where they may even have a greater of assurance of
being provided with food, clothing, medical care, and housing. This is one reason why
many have called for reforms in the penal systems, especially of developed countries,
to place a greater emphasis on rehabilitation of the formerly incarcerated.
Scandinavia: The Safest Region In The
World
Having all three of its most prominent constituent nations (Norway, Sweden, and
Denmark) among the 25 safest countries in the world, Scandinavia has to be
considered the safest region. Moreover, if we more loosely consider Iceland and
Finland as making up part of Scandinavia as well, this means that out of the 25 safest
countries in the world, 5 are located in Scandinavia. Considering intentional homicide
rate averages from across these five countries, the regional rate is 0.8 annual
incidences per 100,000 inhabitants. Compared to the already mentioned low rates
across the continent, Scandinavia’s homicide rates stand at around merely a quarter of
those seen across Europe. Scandinavia also appears to have some of the happiest
people on the planet.
The Pride of Small Asian Countries
The second-best represented region in the top 25 safest countries in the world is Asia.
Aside from Japan, the Asian countries nearing the top of the list are considerably
small in size, both in terms of population and physical area. It is not all about local
culture though. For instance, expensive tickets for minor violations of the law are also
said to play a big role in low crime rates in countries like Singapore. Not only are the
laws there rigorous (even selling chewing gum is forbidden) but also brutal,
considering that over 88% of sentences in 2012 included some degree of caning.
Commonalities among the World’s Safest
Countries
As we can see, certain regions of our globe are considered far safer and more secure
than others. Among the most significant factors driving such high levels of safety
include the educational levels of these populations, their levels of relative social
welfare and wealth, and their effective criminal justice systems. Furthermore, the
governments in these places do not carry out a significant degree of state-sponsored
violence and, as such, set a good example and the foundations for maintaining healthy
relationships with their citizens. Even in the U.S., which could be considered fairly
dangerous for a Western First World economy nation, many of the same correlations
as have been presented herein are also seen in the safest American cities and the safest
states in the United States.
The World's Safest Countries
Rank Country Global Peace Index

1 Iceland 1.111

2 New Zealand 1.241

3 Portugal 1.258

4 Austria 1.265

5 Denmark 1.337

6 Czech Republic 1.360

7 Slovenia 1.364

8 Canada 1.371

9 Switzerland 1.373

10 Japan 1.408

11 Ireland 1.408

12 Australia 1.425

13 Bhutan 1.474

14 Norway 1.486

15 Hungary 1.494

16 Germany 1.500

17 Finland 1.515

18 Sweden 1.516

19 Belgium 1.525
Rank Country Global Peace Index

20 Netherlands 1.525

21 Singapore 1.534

22 Mauritius 1.547

23 Spain 1.568

24 Chile 1.595

25 Romania 1.600