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August 30, 2022

What are the most and least safe cities to visit?

Whether we’re heading on holiday, working abroad or travelling, safety is something we all need to consider.

Not accounting for crime and other dangers can turn your best-laid plans into nightmares. To keep yourself and your belongings safe while abroad, we’ve done the research and collated lots of ways you can prepare safely for any trip away – as well as listing the most and least safe cities in the world. Read on to travel safely.

Preparing for your trip

Wherever you choose to travel, it’s important to prepare properly so you’re not caught out by crime when abroad.

A good starting point is the government’s foreign travel checklist, which lists a range of things you should do when planning a trip to a different country. This includes checking the most up-to-date travel advice from the authorities, understanding the health situation in your chosen country, and ensuring you have the right visas for the countries you’re visiting.

Another good approach can be to check forums to see what experiences others had when visiting your chosen location. It’s great for getting an eyewitness account of the situation on the ground.

It’s important you then look at getting cover for your holiday. As well as travel insurance, there are other more specific policies. You could get watch insurance or a policy for a particular item of jewellery, for example.

The safest cities in the world

According to The Economist’s 2021 Safe Cities Index, the top-ranking city for safety in the world was Copenhagen, followed by Toronto, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo.

These cities scored highest mainly due to their higher incomes and rates of human development, and the fact their systems of politics and justice are highly transparent, reducing the risk of corruption and improving outcomes for victims of crime.

The least safe cities in the world

Conversely, The Economist’s index found that the least safe city in the world was Yangon, Myanmar, followed by Karachi, Caracas, Cairo and Lagos. These countries scored poorly on a range of metrics, including digital security, human development, health, environmental security, and infrastructure.

As a rule of thumb, the lowest-ranking cities were generally in the developing world, or have been affected by social and political upheavals, as is the case with Caracas in Venezuela, and Yangon. The worst-ranking locations also see higher murder rates, with Caracas having the third-highest murder rate according to 2022 figures from Statista. Mexican and Brazilian cities also score very poorly in these statistics.

Wherever you want to visit, it pays to check whether the location is safe before you travel, so be sure to do your research. Have any tips for your fellow travellers? Let us know in the comments section.

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