Which are the safest countries in the world?

How we built this page

We used three kinds of source, each for a different job. The Global Peace Index, produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace, supplies the order of the ten countries. The World Bank indicator for intentional homicides per 100,000 people, which names the UNODC data portal as its origin, supplies a crime figure for each country. Official travel advisories from the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada show what governments tell their own travellers.

We did not weight or combine these into a score of our own. The ten countries are not our selection: they are the first ten places in the 2026 index. For homicide we give the latest year available in the World Bank file for each country, because years differ. Australia's Smartraveller site could not be reached when we tried to read it for this page, so its levels are not included.

What the Global Peace Index measures

The 2026 report is the 20th edition. It ranks 163 independent states and territories, covering 99.7 per cent of the world's population, using 23 qualitative and quantitative indicators. These sit in three domains: societal safety and security, ongoing domestic and international conflict, and militarisation. A low score means more peace.

Militarisation and conflict are part of the score, so a country can rank well because it has little military spending or no wars, and that has no direct bearing on whether a visitor's phone is stolen on a tram. The report also says that global peacefulness deteriorated for the 12th year in a row, by 0.7 per cent in the latest year, and that Western and Central Europe is the most peaceful region, with seven of the world's ten most peaceful countries.

Iceland: first place for the 19th consecutive year

Iceland scores 1.161, well ahead of the next country, New Zealand, at 1.343. The report attributes this to the absence of a standing military, very low crime and strong social cohesion. The World Bank series gives Iceland an intentional homicide rate of 1.29 per 100,000 for 2023. In a small population a single case moves that figure noticeably, so read it as a rough level and not a precise one.

The US State Department rated Iceland Level 1 in an advisory updated on 4 May 2026. Canada's page, read on 8 October 2026, says to take normal security precautions and lists petty crime such as pickpocketing among the things that occur. If you plan a longer stay, the capital is covered on our page for Reykjavik.

New Zealand: second place, with a different data year

New Zealand scores 1.343 and is the most peaceful country in the Asia-Pacific region in the 2026 report. The latest homicide rate we found for it is 1.46 per 100,000, for 2022, which is a year earlier than the 2023 figures for most countries on this page. That mismatch matters if you compare rows, so the table gives the year beside each rate.

The US advisory is Level 1, updated on 28 April 2026. Canada advises normal precautions and notes that petty crime occurs, especially in major cities. The UK page carried no regional warning flag when we read it.

Switzerland, Slovenia, Ireland and Austria: places three to six

Switzerland (1.363), Slovenia (1.369) and Ireland (1.371) are separated by less than 0.01 of an index point, so their order is close. Austria follows at 1.421 in sixth place. The World Bank file shows 2023 homicide rates of 0.60 for Switzerland, 0.57 for Slovenia, 0.65 for Ireland and 0.88 for Austria, all per 100,000 people.

The US rated all four at Level 1, with updates dated 13 August 2026 for Switzerland, 14 May 2026 for Slovenia, 19 March 2026 for Ireland and 20 August 2026 for Austria. Canada's pages for the four describe petty crime such as pickpocketing and purse or bag snatching, in crowded public areas in the Swiss, Slovenian and Austrian cases; the Slovenia page also says violent crime is rare. The latest update notes on the UK pages for Switzerland, Slovenia and Austria concern the European Entry-Exit System, which is a border procedure and not a safety matter.

Portugal and Finland: seventh and ninth

Portugal scores 1.427 and Finland 1.478. Portugal's latest homicide rate on file is 0.72 per 100,000 for 2022; Finland's is 0.98 for 2023. The US rated Portugal Level 1 in an advisory updated on 22 December 2025, and Finland Level 1 on 12 March 2026.

Canada's Portugal page names pickpocketing and bag snatching as common in big cities such as Lisbon and Porto, which fits the point that a high peace ranking and everyday petty crime coexist. Its Finland page notes that debris and drones linked to the war in Ukraine have crossed Finnish airspace. If you want to see our listings in Lisbon, the page for Lisbon has them.

Singapore and Japan: eighth and tenth

Singapore scores 1.435 and Japan 1.489. Both have very low homicide rates in the World Bank file: 0.07 per 100,000 for Singapore and 0.23 for Japan, each for 2023. These are the two lowest rates on this page.

The US rated Singapore Level 1 on 8 March 2026 and Japan Level 1 on 14 May 2025, the oldest update date among the ten. The UK's Japan page recorded an addition on flooding and heavy rain on 28 August 2026, a reminder that natural hazards are a separate subject from crime. Canada's Japan page also covers the area around the Fukushima Daiichi plant. Tokyo is covered on our page for Tokyo.

The ten side by side

The table lists the published top ten in the index's order. The homicide figure is the latest value in the World Bank series for that country, with its year, and the advisory column gives the US level with the date the State Department last updated it.

What homicide rates tell you, and what they do not

Intentional homicide is a figure that international comparisons often use. It is still not a measure of tourist risk, and the index scores above are not one either. A country with a very low rate can still have pickpocketing, as the Canadian pages for several of these countries note.

Several other things sit outside the figure altogether: road traffic risk, health care access and costs, natural hazards such as heavy rain, volcanic activity or earthquakes, and the laws and customs that apply to visitors. Official advisories cover these under separate headings, which is why we link to them as sources and do not summarise them as one verdict.

What the official advisories said when we read them

On 8 October 2026 we read the State Department's advisory feed, the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office pages and Canada's travel advice pages. For all ten countries, the US level was Level 1, which its scale labels normal precautions. Canada's pages for all ten said to take normal security precautions. None of the ten UK pages had a regional warning flag set, such as advice against all but essential travel to a part of the country.

These are snapshots. Governments revise advisories after events, and they differ in wording and thresholds, so one country's Level 1 is not the same promise as another's. Check the live page for your own dates on the official sites listed in our sources before you book.

Limits of this page and of the data

Four limits apply. First, the index measures countries as wholes, and differences between cities, neighbourhoods and seasons do not show. Second, the homicide years are not the same for every country, and in small countries a few cases change the rate. Third, the index weighs militarisation and external conflict, which matter to analysts of peace but not directly to a short stay. Fourth, we did not read every government's advice, so a missing source means we have not looked, not that there is nothing to see.

Because the index is revised each year and advisories change more often, we mark this page for review within 90 days of its review date.

Using the list when you plan a stay

Treat the top ten as a starting list, then narrow by what you need: season, budget, and the area of the city. On a stay of a week or more, a kitchen and a secure building entrance are practical features to check, and our guide to how to choose an aparthotel and the long-stay accommodation checklist cover them.

The table below shows the stays we list in each of the ten countries, in the order given. It is our own catalogue data, not a safety measure.