Safest countries in the world in 2026

How we measure a 'safe' country

There is no single number for safety, so treat any ranking as one lens. The most cited is the Global Peace Index (GPI), published each year by the Institute for Economics and Peace. It scores 163 states and territories — 99.7% of the world's population — across 23 indicators grouped into three domains: societal safety and security, ongoing domestic and international conflict, and militarisation. A lower score is more peaceful. Because it weighs war, conflict and military posture heavily, the GPI is the right lens for relocation: it captures the tail risks that actually make people leave a country, not just the odds of a stolen phone.

A useful counterweight is Numbeo's Safety Index, a crowd-sourced survey of how safe residents feel walking day and night and how worried they are about theft, assault and harassment. It reflects lived street-level experience, which is why Gulf states and micro-states that sit outside the GPI top ten — Andorra, the UAE, Qatar — top Numbeo instead. Neither is wrong; they answer different questions. For a permanent move, read both, then verify current conditions locally before you commit.

The safest countries in 2026 — Global Peace Index ranking

The table below is the top 20 of the 2026 Global Peace Index, released in July 2026, with each country's GPI score (lower is more peaceful) and region. Iceland holds first place for the 19th consecutive year, helped by no standing army, very low crime and high social cohesion. Western and Central Europe again supplies seven of the top ten. Scores are close in the middle of the table, so small ranking shuffles year to year are normal — treat the tier, not the exact rank, as the signal.

The global picture is less reassuring. The 2026 report notes that average world peacefulness has fallen to its lowest point since the index began, and the conditions that drive conflict are at their worst since the end of the Second World War. That divergence — a stable, peaceful core of small and mid-sized democracies against a more turbulent periphery — is exactly why safety has become a live variable in relocation decisions rather than an afterthought.

Crime, not conflict: the Numbeo view

If your concern is everyday crime rather than geopolitics, the picture reshuffles. On Numbeo's 2026 mid-year Safety Index, the United Arab Emirates sits at the top (around 86), followed by Qatar and Andorra (both around 85), then Taiwan and several East Asian and Gulf jurisdictions. The UAE scores highly here despite ranking outside the GPI top ten, because its residents report very low street crime — a reminder that a heavily policed, low-crime state and a 'peaceful' one are not the same thing.

Hard crime data tells the same story from another angle. Intentional homicide is the most comparable crime statistic across borders, and the safest states cluster near the bottom: Singapore records roughly 0.1 homicides per 100,000 people — among the lowest on earth — while Iceland, Japan and Switzerland sit under 1. For context, the World Bank puts the global average near 5.2 per 100,000. Those are the numbers that make Singapore and Japan feel as safe on the street as they do.

Safety is not one thing — read past the headline

A national ranking hides enormous internal variation. Crime, natural-disaster risk, healthcare access and political stability are all separate axes, and they cluster differently. Iceland is peaceful but exposed to volcanic and weather risk; the Gulf states are low-crime but score differently on personal-freedom measures; large, safe countries like Canada or Australia contain both very safe and higher-crime regions. Before a move, drop from the country level to the city and neighbourhood level, and weigh the risks that actually apply to your household.

• Violent vs. petty crime — a low homicide rate can coexist with high pickpocketing in tourist zones. Check both.
• Natural-disaster exposure — earthquakes, flooding, wildfire and storm risk vary far more by location than by country.
• Political and institutional stability — rule of law and property rights matter more than crime stats if you are moving capital, not just yourself.
• Healthcare and emergency response — 'safe' includes what happens when something goes wrong; see how systems compare across our country healthcare guides.
• Personal profile — safety is not uniform across gender, ethnicity or visibility; Numbeo's harassment sub-scores are worth reading.

How this fits a borderless plan

Safety is one flag among several. A country can be extremely safe and still be a poor base if its tax regime is punishing or its residency hard to hold — so the practical question is where safety, tax and residency line up at once. Several GPI leaders are also credible relocation bases. Portugal (7th) pairs a top-ten safety rank with an accessible residency path and a well-developed expat infrastructure. Singapore (8th) combines near-zero violent crime with a territorial-leaning tax system. Switzerland (3rd) offers stability and a lump-sum tax deal for those who qualify.

Others reward a closer look: Ireland (5th) is an English-speaking EU base, and Croatia — climbing on both safety indices — has become a popular, affordable Mediterranean option with a digital-nomad route. Start from your priorities, not the leaderboard: decide which risks you actually need to eliminate, then screen the safe list against tax and residency reality. Our residency hub and guide to establishing tax residency abroad walk through how to hold a base once you have chosen one.

How Expectat helps you move somewhere genuinely safer

Reading a ranking is the easy part — turning it into a move is where most people stall. Here’s how we close that gap with you:

• We start from your numbers, not a brochure. A first session maps your income, assets, citizenship and family against the shortlist above — and tells you honestly which options fit you, and which only look good on paper.
• We weigh safety against the rest of your life. Low crime is one input — we balance it against residency options, tax, cost of living and schools so you don't trade danger for a place that doesn't fit.
• We execute on the ground. We sequence the filings, introduce the vetted local lawyers, tax advisors and banks who’ve done it before, and stay with you until it’s actually done.

You don’t need to become a tax expert or trust a forum thread — that’s our job. Book a strategy call and we’ll turn this into a concrete, personal plan.