Whether we’d like to admit our not, the world has been coping with several new insecurities since 2009 according to the Global Peace Index. With this fact developing worldwide, travelers are seeking after safer destinations as well as feeling save in your own home country. The Global Peace Index has selected 25 countries in their 10th report, that are referred to as the safest countries in the world. 18 of which are European. So how did they select these countries and where should you feel the safest? To start off with, they looked at several points such as respective intrinsic wealth per capita, educational access, criminal justice systems, and social welfare. No, not just terrorism. (even though it has affected many countries over the last few years)
Scandinavia
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. Iceland and Finland aren’t officially part of Scandinavia but you can kind of consider them to be, then it would be 5 safe countries within one region and this is pretty impressive to say the least. People from Scandinavian countries are among some of the happiest people on the planet so that might count for something too.
Feeling good in Sweden
Asia
This might surprise you but Asia is doing pretty well, even though the Asian countries represented are fairly small. Their the second-best represented region in the top 25 safest countries in the world. Some violations are paid with a high price in Asian countries, like it’s even forbidden to sell chewing gum in Singapore in order to keep the streets clean. Somehow this works over there and people play by the rules, making the crime rate lower.
The list
So you’re all wondering where to plan your next (safe) adventure to right? Nice to know that plenty of beautiful countries with a lot of sunshine made it to the list. The largest improvement in the region was recorded by Portugal, which built on gains last year to rise nine places to fifth globally.
We are 2 happy campers in Portugal
| Rank | Country | Global Peace Index |
|---|
| 1 | Iceland | 1.192 |
| 2 | Denmark | 1.246 |
| 3 | Austria | 1.278 |
| 4 | New Zealand | 1.287 |
| 5 | Portugal | 1.356 |
| 6 | Czech Republic | 1.360 |
| 7 | Switzerland | 1.370 |
| 8 | Canada | 1.388 |
| 9 | Japan | 1.395 |
| 10 | Slovenia | 1.408 |
| 11 | Finland | 1.429 |
| 12 | Ireland | 1.433 |
| 13 | Bhutan | 1.445 |
| 14 | Sweden | 1.610 |
| 15 | Australia | 1.465 |
| 16 | Germany | 1.860 |
| 17 | Norway | 1.500 |
| 18 | Belgium | 1.528 |
| 19 | Hungary | 1.534 |
| 20 | Singapore | 1.535 |
| 21 | Netherlands | 1.541 |
| 22 | Poland | 1.557 |
| 23 | Mauritius | 1.559 |
| 24 | Slovakia | 1.603 |
| 25 | Spain | 1.604 |
To learn more about the report and to see the full list of 163 countries, please check here.
So, is your country on the list and more importantly, where do you feel save?
Love,
Elke
