Which are the safest countries in Central America?

How we chose the seven countries

Our selection from the sources above is the seven sovereign states that make up Central America in the usual sense: Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama. The index does not use that grouping. It lists 14 countries together as North and Central America, which also includes Canada, the United States, Mexico and several Caribbean states, and Belize does not appear in the table at all. For Belize we therefore give homicide and advisory information only.

Each country gets three separate kinds of information: its index place and score, the latest homicide rate on file, and the advisories. We do not combine them. Australia's Smartraveller site did not respond when we tried to read it, so it is left out.

What the 2026 index says about the region

In the report the regional average score for North and Central America is 2.131, with a lower score meaning more peace. The region got worse by two per cent on average, with 10 of the 14 countries less peaceful than a year earlier, and the report describes a wide gap between Canada in 14th place worldwide and Haiti in 142nd. The Ongoing Conflict domain drove most of the change.

Of our six indexed countries, Costa Rica is second in the regional table at 1.860 and 62nd in the world, Panama fifth at 1.976 and 81st, Guatemala sixth at 2.025 and 88th, Honduras eighth at 2.075 and 96th, Nicaragua ninth at 2.107 and 106th, and El Salvador eleventh at 2.264 and 121st. Honduras and Mexico were the two countries the report names as sharing the largest percentage improvement in the region, two per cent each. Costa Rica's score worsened by 0.070 over the year. Place in the table is not a sequence from least to most risky for a visitor, as the sections below show.

Costa Rica and Panama: the most visited, with named hotspots

Costa Rica's World Bank homicide rate is 17.75 per 100,000 for 2023. The US rated it Level 2 in an advisory updated on 1 April 2026, citing crime and noting that violent crime also affects tourists. Canada asks for a high degree of caution, last updated 31 August 2026, and describes frequent petty theft, with passport theft especially common in busy tourist seasons. The UK page, updated on 19 May 2026, carried no warning against travel to any part of the country, but says gang-related violence has become more frequent in some urban areas, including some places popular with visitors, and that muggings and theft are significant problems, particularly on the Atlantic coast. For a resort stay see Jaco.

Panama's rate is 11.71 for 2023. The US rated Panama Level 2 on 18 August 2026 and tells readers not to travel to the Mosquito Gulf or to parts of the Darien Region because of crime. Canada's headline for Panama is normal security precautions, with regional advisories: a high degree of caution in Colon Province, in the San Miguelito district and in several named areas of Panama City, and avoid all travel to areas south of Meteti in Darien and to the Mosquito Gulf. The UK page, updated on 7 October 2026, carried no warning against travel. It names higher-crime areas of the capital such as San Miguelito, El Chorrillo and Rio Abajo, and asks anyone travelling east of a line near the Colombian border to go only in an organised group. Our listings in Panama City sit in a city where the advisories name specific districts rather than the whole of it.

Guatemala: the widest gap between city, region and headline

Guatemala's homicide rate is 23.37 per 100,000 for 2023. The US rated it Level 3, reconsider travel, on 11 March 2026 because of crime and terrorism, and names San Marcos Department, Huehuetenango Department, Zone 18 in Guatemala City and the city of Villa Nueva as places where US government employees may not travel. Canada's regional advisory goes further on the capital, listing Zones 1, 3, 5 to 7, 18 and 21, several municipalities in the Guatemala and Escuintla departments and a long list of land border crossings.

The UK page, updated on 13 August 2026, advises against all but essential travel to areas within 5 km of the Mexican border from the Pacific coast to the Gracias a Dios crossing, and to three towns in Huehuetenango. The US text also lists places US staff can visit, including Antigua, Lake Atitlan and Tikal, and describes a Tourist Assistance Program, ASISTUR, which works with tourist police in popular areas. That is one official source describing an institution rather than a verdict on the destination.

Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador: three different kinds of caution

Honduras has the highest homicide rate in the set, 31.44 per 100,000 for 2023, yet its index score improved over the year. The US rated it Level 3 on 24 August 2026 and lists designated high-crime zones in the capital district and the Cortes department. Canada's advisory names the area within 20 km of the Guatemalan and Salvadoran borders, with exceptions for certain highways and Copan Ruinas, parts of San Pedro Sula, the city of Choloma and the departments of Gracias a Dios, Olancho and Yoro. The UK page, updated on 29 July 2026, carried no warning flag.

Nicaragua's latest rate in the series is 11.35, from 2021. The US rated it Level 3 on 13 May 2026, citing crime, health, wrongful detention and arbitrary enforcement of local laws. Canada cites the political situation, potential civil unrest and crime. The UK page notes that there is no resident British diplomatic mission in Nicaragua and says travellers needing help should contact the British Embassy in San Jose, Costa Rica.

El Salvador shows how different the kinds of risk can be. Its homicide rate in the World Bank series is 7.90 for 2022, the lowest of the seven. The index report quotes a government claim of 1.9 per 100,000 and notes that fewer than 10 per cent of people now feel unsafe walking alone, against 70 per cent in 2017, alongside human rights concerns about mass detentions under a state of exception. The US rated El Salvador Level 1 on 24 June 2026 but describes the state of exception and says several US citizens have been detained under it. Canada asks for a high degree of caution because of arbitrary enforcement of local laws as well as crime. The risk named is about law, not street violence.

Belize: outside the index, with one named district

Belize is not in the 2026 index table. Its homicide rate in the World Bank series is 28.06 per 100,000 for 2022. The US rated it Level 2 on 11 March 2026 and says the south side of Belize City has historically had the highest concentration of violent crime, with a separate reconsider-travel note for Southside Belize City. Canada asks for a high degree of caution throughout the country because of violent crime, and advises avoiding non-essential travel to Southside Belize City, south of the Haulover Creek River. The UK page, updated on 12 June 2026, carried no warning against travel.

A national rate and a single district named by two governments are different pieces of information. The US text adds that emergency medical services are usually unavailable or significantly delayed and that serious injuries or illnesses may need evacuation to another country, which is a good reason to read the health section before a trip.

The seven countries side by side

Read the table row by row. The columns are kept separate on purpose, and no single column should be taken as a ranking of risk.

Reading the homicide column with care

The years in the table differ, from 2021 for Nicaragua to 2023 for four of the others, and in a region where rates can fall fast after policy changes, a gap of two years matters. El Salvador's own government quotes a figure of 1.9 for a recent year, which the index report passes on as a claim and which differs sharply from the 2022 value in the World Bank series. Neither figure is a measure of risk to a visitor, and the series does not separate tourist areas from the rest of a country.

The more useful lesson is comparative: Costa Rica is second in the index table, yet its homicide rate of 17.75 is higher than those of Panama (11.71) and Nicaragua (11.35), and Honduras sits mid-table in the index while having the highest rate of the seven. Index place and homicide rate answer different questions.

Practical habits drawn from the official texts

The texts we read agree on a short list: avoid travelling between cities after dark where governments ask their own staff not to, use official border crossings, keep documents and valuables out of sight in busy places, report a crime before leaving the country where the UK page asks for it, and check for demonstrations that can close roads at short notice. On health, the CDC recommends seeing a health care provider or travel health specialist at least four to six weeks before departure.

On a longer stay a kitchen reduces how often you need to eat out late. The table on this page lists our aparthotel counts and typical kitchen share per country; nothing there is a statement about safety.

How to check current advice

Advice for this region changes often, and many of the named areas in this page come from sections that are updated separately from the headline level. Read the full country page of your own government, compare with one other, and look at the update note, the regional list and the crime, health and natural hazard sections. The sources below link to the pages we read. Entry rules are for the official immigration website of each country, and we give no visa advice here.