The think tank Institute for Economics and Peace this published the Global Peace Index 2018, which ranks major nations around the world by how safe they are.
The report ranked 163 countries based on how peaceful they are. The ranking is determined by 23 factors, which include murder rate, political terror, and deaths from internal conflict.
For an 11th consecutive year, the tiny northern European nation of Iceland was ranked as the world’s safest place. Home to around 300,000 people, Iceland’s crime rate is minuscule, with just 1.8 murders per 100,000 people annually. That’s around one-third the murder rate in the USA.
Most countries high up on the Peace Index were western, although a handful of developed economies in Asia, as well as small island nations, made the ranking.
The Peace Index ranks countries from high to low, so the lower the number, the safer the country. Check out the list below.
31. Latvia — 1.689
30. Spain — 1.678
29. Botswana — 1.659
28. Chile — 1.649
27. Croatia — 1.639
26. Bulgaria — 1.635
25. Malaysia — 1.619
24. Romania — 1.596
23. The Netherlands — 1.574
22. Slovakia — 1.568
21. Belgium — 1.560
20. Mauritius — 1.548
19. Bhutan — 1.545
T17. Hungary — 1.531
T17. Germany — 1.531
16. Norway — 1.519
15. Finland — 1.506
14. Sweden — 1.502
13. Australia — 1.435
12. Switzerland — 1.407
11. Slovenia — 1.396
10. Ireland — 1.393
9. Japan — 1.391
8. Singapore — 1.382
7. Czech Republic — 1.381
6. Canada — 1.372
5. Denmark — 1.353
4. Portugal — 1.318
3. Austria — 1.274
2. New Zealand — 1.192
1. Iceland — 1.096
