Iceland is the safest country in the world. If you love travelling, you know that when embarking on a journey, ensuring your safety is of paramount importance. The country has been ranked as 'The Safest Country in the World 2023' at the Global Peace Index (GPI), an annual ranking conducted by the Institute of Economics and Peace to determine the safest countries.
The GPI evaluates countries based on a wide array of criteria, encompassing aspects like levels of violence, crime, terrorism, and international conflicts, all in pursuit of identifying the world's most secure nations.
Here's the news: Some countries might surprise you!
In this ranking, India ranks 126th in the list, above the USA that ranks at 133rd place. Countries like China, Saudi Arabia, and places in Central America such as El Salvador and Honduras, where there's a lot of violence, are also considered to be more peaceful than the United States.
Additionally, the United Kingdom, which has issues with knife crime, is ranked 37th, and Australia is at 22nd.
Top 10 countries
Iceland
Denmark
Ireland
New Zealand
Austria
Singapore
Portugal
Slovenia
Japan
Switzerland
Special mention for Finland
The organisation has a special mention for Finland. While Iceland may be at the top of the overall Global Peace Index ranking, when we specifically focus on the 'safety and security' category, which is one of the three key indicators of peace, Finland emerges as the world's safest country.
To assess safety and security, they look at statistics like the number of homicides per 100,000 people and the size of the prison population. In this category, Finland is ranked as the safest and most secure country globally, followed by Japan, Iceland, Singapore, and Norway.
It's important to note that while this safety and security ranking differs from the overall ranking, Iceland's position as the safest country takes into account factors like 'ongoing conflict' and 'militarization,' which contribute to its recognition as the most peaceful country across all three pillars of the index.
