What are the safest countries in the world? Do you live in one of them?
If you live in the US, where gun violence is at record-breaking figures, then you know that safety is top on the list of concerns. If you live in New York City, then you may be one of those who avoid taking the subway as crime underground has reached disturbing proportions.
But who are those lucky people who live in the safest locations?
The Global Peace Index (GPI) ranks the safest and most peaceful countries in the world. This report is published annually by the Institute for Economics and Peace, which defines itself as “an independent, non-partisan, non-profit organization dedicated to shifting the world’s focus to peace as a positive, achievable and tangible measure of human wellbeing and progress.”
The report researches countries to determine which are the safest and which are the most dangerous.
A total of 163 countries are featured in the GPI report, which ranks each country’s level of safety or danger based upon 23 different indicators. The indicators used to compile the GPI include the number of internal and external violent conflicts, level of distrust, political instability, potential for terrorist acts, number of homicides, and military expenditures as a percentage of GDP. These indicators are grouped into three broad categories—Ongoing International Conflict, Societal Safety and Security, and Militarization—and a score is calculated for each of the 163 nations featured in the report. The lower the score, the higher the nation is ranked in terms of safety.
Based on figures compiled for 2023, these are the top 20 Safest Countries in the World (Global Peace Index — lower is better):
Iceland 1.11
Denmark 1.31
Ireland 1.29
New Zealand 1.31
Austria 1.30
Singapore 1.33
Portugal 1.33
Slovenia 1.33
Japan 1.34
Switzerland 1.34
Canada 1.35
Czech Republic 1.38
Finland 1.44
Croatia 1.44
Germany 1.46
Netherlands 1.49
Bhutan 1.48
Hungary 1.51
Malaysia 1.51
Belgium 1.52
You don’t see the United States on this list? That is because it came in at number 129 in the Global Peace Ranking for 2023. The United States’ ranking has fallen every year since 2016, a drop usually attributed to a decrease in life satisfaction, rising political division, rising violence and an increasing wealth gap. According to a Gallup poll, although there have been fewer homicides in 2023, there have been more mass shootings and mass murders this year than last year.
Some other countries are not in the top, but they are nevertheless comfortably situated among the safest.
Italy came in at 34, Spain at 32, the UK at 37, and France at 67.
If you think that the world is becoming less safe, you are right. According to the latest GPI report, the world has become less safe over the past 14 years, with per-country scores deteriorating by 3.2% on average. The report further notes that safety and peacefulness have decreased for eleven of the past fourteen years.
Despite the war that has been consuming Ukraine and Russia, a majority of the top 25 safest countries are in Europe. Most notable are the Nordic countries of Europe, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, and Finland.
Not surprisingly, these five Nordic countries are all in the top 10 happiest countries in the world as well. The second-safest region among the top 25 safest countries is Asia. Both Europe and Asia have the world’s lowest homicide rates of 3 or fewer per 100,000 inhabitants.
