The safest countries in the world have been collated by Which? Travel using statistics from a number of reports.
Using crime rate data from the World Economic Fund, natural disaster risks from the World Risk Report and health risks from the NHS Fit for Travel advice, the top 20 safest places with the lowest crime have been revealed.
While working alongside information from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s (FCO) travel advice, the top countries have been revealed.
The UK, however, makes a surprising entry to the list.
Sadly, the United Kingdom does not make the Top 20 for being one of the safest countries.
In the World Economic Forum list, the UK makes a pitiful 78th place.
Coming in first was Iceland, with just 36 murders since 2000, making an average of two a year.
Iceland was followed by the UAE, with Dubai a popular British holiday choice, along with Singapore, Spain and Australia.
Near the bottom of the list were South Africa, Turkey and Thailand, deemed some of the most dangerous.
South Africa experienced 20,000 murders in 12 months, according to the Guardian, while Turkey and Thailand have both suffered from terrorist attacks in recent years.
The Which? Travel study also looked at natural disaster risk, with the safest countries being Barbados and Iceland, and the health risk lowest in the UAE and Japan.
Only Iceland and Japan have the lowest terror warning, with FCO advising terrorism “can’t be ruled out”, compared to other countries with “likely” or “very likely”.
The UK terror threat level is currently ranked “severe”, just one less than the worst level of “critical”.
Top 20 safest countries
World Economic Fund Safety Index – 20 selected holiday destinations ranked by risk of violent crime (from better to worse)
1. Iceland 6.6
2. UAE 6.6
3. Singapore 6.5
4. Spain 6.2
5. Australia 6.1
6. Canada 6.1
7. Japan 6.1
8. Morocco 6.1
9. Jordan 5.8
10. Barbados 5.6
11. Greece 5.6
12. Vietnam 5.6
13. France 5.4
14. Italy 5.4
15. US 5.2
16. Mexico 4.2
17. India 4.1
18. Thailand 4
19. Turkey 4
20. South Africa 3.9
