Safest Countries in the World: Top 10 Rankings and Insights
Few things feel as quietly radical as leaving your front door unlocked in a city — in Iceland, that’s not a cliché but regular life. The 2024 Global Peace Index confirms Iceland’s lead with a GPI score of 1.112, prompting a look at what safety feels like in the world’s most peaceful nations and why the idea of zero crime is a myth.
Most peaceful country in 2024: Iceland (GPI score 1.112) ·
Number of countries ranked in GPI: 163 ·
Top 5 safest countries (2024 GPI): Iceland, Ireland, Austria, New Zealand, Singapore ·
Least peaceful country in 2024: Yemen ·
Ireland’s global safety rank: 2nd in GPI 2024
Quick snapshot
- Iceland ranks 1st in the 2024 Global Peace Index (ReliefWeb / GPI 2024)
- Ireland ranks 2nd, New Zealand 4th, Singapore 5th (ReliefWeb / GPI 2024) (ReliefWeb / GPI 2024)
- Yemen replaced Afghanistan as the least peaceful country (ReliefWeb / GPI 2024) (ReliefWeb / GPI 2024)
- No single official ranking identifies the safest city within any country (Wikipedia – GPI methodology)
- Whether any country has truly zero crime remains an open question (Wikipedia – GPI methodology)
- 2024 GPI released June 11, 2024 (ReliefWeb / GPI 2024)
- Israel fell to an all-time low of 155th (ReliefWeb / GPI 2024)
- Global peacefulness has declined over the last decade (Vision of Humanity / IEP)
- Urban safety and women’s safety rankings are expected to gain more attention (Vision of Humanity / IEP)
The table below aggregates key facts and 2024 GPI sources.
| Label | Value |
|---|---|
| Most peaceful country | Iceland (GPI 1.112) – Indian Express (GPI top 10 table) |
| Least peaceful country | Yemen – (ReliefWeb / GPI 2024) |
| Number of countries in GPI 2024 | 163 – (Indian Express) |
| Top 5 safest countries | Iceland, Ireland, Austria, New Zealand, Singapore – (ReliefWeb / GPI 2024) |
| Country with highest crime perception | Venezuela – World Population Review (crime rate index) |
What are the top 10 safest countries in the world?
Top 10 safest countries by GPI 2024
- Iceland – GPI 1.112 (Indian Express (GPI table))
- Ireland – GPI 1.303 (Indian Express)
- Austria – GPI 1.313 (Indian Express)
- New Zealand – GPI 1.323 (Indian Express)
- Singapore – GPI 1.339 (Indian Express)
- Switzerland – GPI 1.350 (Indian Express)
- Portugal – GPI 1.372 (Indian Express)
- Denmark – GPI 1.382 (Indian Express)
- Slovenia – GPI 1.395 (Indian Express)
- Japan – conventional rank within top 10 (Wikipedia – GPI background)
Seven of the ten safest countries are in Europe. The top five alone — Iceland, Ireland, Austria, New Zealand, Singapore — span three continents, suggesting that safety correlates more with governance quality and social trust than with geography alone. (Vision of Humanity / IEP)
What this means: top peacefulness requires a combination of internal stability, low conflict, and strong social institutions, not a single policy fix.
How the GPI ranking is determined
The Global Peace Index, produced by the Institute for Economics & Peace (IEP), evaluates 163 countries across 23 indicators grouped into three domains: societal safety and security, ongoing domestic and international conflict, and militarization. (Wikipedia – GPI methodology) Each indicator is scored on a 1–5 scale, with lower numbers meaning higher peacefulness. The final GPI score is a weighted composite, which is why a country like Singapore — with strict laws and low violent crime — can rank alongside Nordic nations with very different cultural approaches to safety.
The implication: the GPI captures a multidimensional picture of peace, not just street crime. A country can have a low crime rate but rank lower if it has high military spending or internal conflict.
Which country is the least safe?
Least peaceful countries by GPI 2024
- Yemen – replaced Afghanistan as the least peaceful country (ReliefWeb / GPI 2024)
- Afghanistan – previously lowest in 2022 after Taliban takeover (ReliefWeb / GPI 2024)
- Syria, South Sudan, Iraq – also among the lowest-ranked (Wikipedia – GPI background)
- Israel – fell to an all-time low of 155th (ReliefWeb / GPI 2024)
No country on the list is truly “crime-free.” Even the safest nations deal with property crime, domestic violence, and theft. The difference is scale and social response: in Iceland, homicide is rare enough to be national news; in Yemen, it’s one crisis among many. (Vision of Humanity / IEP context)
The catch: peace metrics require context — a statistically safe country can still contain dangerous regions.
Countries with the highest crime rates
Crime rate and peace index measure different things. Venezuela, Papua New Guinea, and South Africa consistently report the highest violent crime rates per capita, driven by factors like economic instability, inequality, and weak law enforcement. (World Population Review (crime rate data)) The GPI includes safety perception and crime as one component, but a country can have a high crime rate and still rank moderately on peace if it avoids internal conflict and militarization.
What this means: a traveler checking only the GPI might overlook high-crime urban areas in an otherwise peaceful country. The index is a starting point, not a complete safety audit.
Which country has the highest crime rate?
Countries with the highest crime rates in 2024
- Venezuela – highest crime perception index globally (World Population Review)
- Papua New Guinea – high rates of violent crime (World Population Review)
- South Africa – persistently high homicide rate (World Population Review)
Difference between crime rate and peace index
The GPI’s societal safety domain covers crime perception, homicide rate, and violent crime, but the index also weights conflict-related indicators and militarization equally. (Wikipedia – GPI methodology) A country with moderate crime but active civil war will rank far worse than a country with high property crime but no conflict. The trade-off: the GPI is a better measure of overall stability than of personal safety risk for a visitor or resident.
Is Ireland or the UK safer?
Ireland’s safety ranking vs. the UK
Ireland ranks 2nd on the 2024 GPI with a score of 1.303, while the UK ranks 37th. (ReliefWeb / GPI 2024) Ireland has a lower homicide rate and less violent crime overall, according to the GPI safety and security sub-domain scores. Both countries are considered safe by global standards, but Ireland consistently outperforms the UK across multiple peace metrics.
Five countries, one contrast: the table below shows how the safest nations compare against a mid-ranked peer on four dimensions.
| Metric | Ireland (GPI rank 2) | United Kingdom (GPI rank 37) |
|---|---|---|
| GPI score (2024) | 1.303 (Indian Express) | ~1.8 (estimated from rank context) (ReliefWeb / GPI 2024) |
| Homicide rate (per 100k) | ~0.6 (Wikipedia – GPI indicators) | ~1.2 (Wikipedia – GPI indicators) |
| Violent crime perception | Low (Vision of Humanity / IEP) | Moderate (Vision of Humanity / IEP) |
| Internal conflict score | Very low (Vision of Humanity / IEP) | Low to moderate (Vision of Humanity / IEP) |
The pattern: Ireland’s advantage comes from lower internal conflict and stronger social cohesion, not just policing. The UK faces higher militarization spending and greater social tensions, which drags its rank down.
Comparison of crime rates and quality of life
On quality-of-life surveys, both countries rank highly for safety, but Ireland edges ahead in the OECD Better Life Index safety dimension. (Wikipedia – cross-index reference) For a resident or expat, the practical difference is modest: both countries offer safe cities, reliable policing, and low risks of violent crime. The GPI gap reflects structural factors more than daily street-level experience.
What city in Ireland is the safest?
Safest cities in Ireland for 2024
- Galway – widely cited as the safest city in Ireland (BBC Travel – Ireland safety context)
- Cork – low crime rates, strong community policing (BBC Travel)
- Limerick – has seen significant crime reduction in recent years (BBC Travel)
- Dublin – generally safe but with higher petty crime in tourist areas (BBC Travel)
Factors making a city safe
Urban safety correlates with income equality, community engagement, police visibility, and well-lit public spaces. Galway benefits from a compact city center, strong local governance, and high social trust. (Vision of Humanity – urban safety research) Rural areas across Ireland are generally safer than cities, but even Dublin, the largest urban center, has a violent crime rate well below the European average.
The implication: no official ranking exists for safest city in Ireland, but consistent patterns point to Galway as the top contender. For anyone relocating, neighborhood-level research matters more than city-wide averages.
Timeline: how the safest countries have shifted
- 2024 – Global Peace Index released June 11; Iceland retains top spot. Yemen becomes least peaceful. (ReliefWeb / GPI 2024)
- 2023 – Iceland first, New Zealand second, Ireland third (Vision of Humanity / IEP archive)
- 2022 – Afghanistan falls to bottom after Taliban takeover (Vision of Humanity / IEP archive)
The 2024 GPI marks the first time Yemen rather than Afghanistan anchors the bottom of the list — a shift driven by Afghanistan’s marginal improvements and Yemen’s deepening conflict. The top of the list has stayed remarkably stable, with Iceland holding rank 1 for over a decade. (ReliefWeb / GPI 2024)
The timeline underscores that peacefulness is dynamic, shifting with geopolitical events and internal reforms.
Clarity check: what’s confirmed and what’s not
Confirmed facts
- Iceland is the safest country according to GPI 2024 (ReliefWeb / GPI 2024)
- Yemen is the least peaceful country in 2024 (ReliefWeb / GPI 2024)
- Ireland is safer than the UK based on GPI score (ReliefWeb / GPI 2024)
- Singapore entered the top five for the first time (ReliefWeb / GPI 2024)
What’s unclear
- Which city in Ireland is the safest? No official ranking exists.
- Whether any country has zero crime: no country achieves that, but some have near-zero homicide.
- How the GPI would change if women’s safety were a standalone metric.
- The precise impact of tourism safety and expat perceptions on GPI scores is not separated.
The implication for readers: rely on confirmed rankings for country-level comparisons, but dig deeper for city and demographic specifics.
Perspectives from the ground
“People leave doors unlocked and children play outside unsupervised.”
“Peacefulness has declined globally in the last decade.”
The 2024 GPI report documented that 65 countries improved their peacefulness while 56 deteriorated, making the global picture mixed but slightly negative overall. (ReliefWeb / GPI 2024)
The picture is clear: GPI data provides the most reliable benchmark, but local context and personal safety research are essential companions for anyone making decisions based on these rankings.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the Global Peace Index?
The Global Peace Index is an annual ranking by the Institute for Economics & Peace that measures the relative peacefulness of 163 countries using 23 indicators across three domains: societal safety, conflict, and militarization. (Wikipedia – GPI background)
How is the GPI calculated?
Each country receives a score from 1 (most peaceful) to 5 (least peaceful) based on weighted indicators including homicide rate, violent crime, political instability, military spending, and ongoing conflicts. Lower scores mean higher peacefulness. (Wikipedia – GPI methodology)
Which country is safest for women?
There is no standalone global ranking for women’s safety, but countries with high GPI scores — Iceland, Ireland, New Zealand, and Switzerland — typically also rank well on gender equality and women’s safety indicators. (Vision of Humanity / IEP)
How does the United States rank in safety?
The United States ranked 132nd out of 163 countries in the 2024 GPI, with a score well above 2.0, placing it in the lower third globally. High militarization, gun violence, and internal conflict drive its low rank. (ReliefWeb / GPI 2024)
Is Singapore safe for tourists?
Yes. Singapore ranks 5th on the GPI 2024 and is widely regarded as one of the safest destinations for tourists, with very low crime rates and strict law enforcement. (Indian Express (GPI table))
What is the safest country in Asia?
Singapore is the safest country in Asia, ranking 5th globally in the 2024 GPI. Japan also ranks within the top 10, making East Asia a strong region for peacefulness. (ReliefWeb / GPI 2024)
What is the safest country in Europe?
Iceland is the safest country in Europe and globally. Ireland, Austria, and Denmark follow closely, with all four in the top 10 of the 2024 GPI. (ReliefWeb / GPI 2024)
How does the GPI compare to other safety rankings?
The GPI is the most comprehensive multidimensional peace index. Other rankings like the World Crime Index focus purely on crime rates, while the GPI includes conflict and militarization. For a traveler, combining GPI with crime-rate data gives a fuller picture. (Wikipedia – GPI vs other indices)
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