Australia named world’s second safest country in new global travel ranking
Australia has claimed second spot in a list of safest nations – but one popular travel destination failed to make the list despite falling crime rates.
Australia has snagged one of the top spots in the newly revealed World Safest Countries list.
Coming in at second place, the land Down Under has secured a place on the podium but one major nation fell short of making the list at all.
With the holiday travel season ahead, travel insurance provider Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection has named the safest nations in the world for 2026, finding that the Netherlands topped the list when it came to tourist security.
The US however was left off the compendium entirely despite the fact that crime has been on the decline nationwide.
But the study wasn’t designed to be some biased, anti-American campaign.
To compile the list of most traveller-safe nations, Berkshire Hathaway went straight to the horse’s mouth and asked 1800 American travellers to rank the countries they visited based on safety.
The firm then combined their answers with data from the Global Peace Index, Numbeo, and other sources spanning various factors, including terrorism, weather emergencies, health concerns and the safety of underrepresented groups, Travel + Leisure magazine reported.
This data was blended with past results with the scores from “outside sources and calculated a weighted score that reflects each country’s overall safety,” per the site.
Interestingly, safety was not simply synonymous with lack of crime, per the survey.
“We’re seeing a shift in how travelers define ‘safe,’” a spokesperson for Berkshire Hathaway told Travel + Leisure.
“People are also considering healthcare access, climate stability and inclusivity.”
Coincidentally, a recent survey found that Americans feel “plagued” by nerves at the idea of international travel, with fear factors including getting hurt while travelling and having travelled to unsafe locations in the past – 16 per cent.
Coming in first was the Netherlands, which jumped up a whopping 13 spots from 2024. Surveyed travellers gave the “peace-loving” place “near-top marks for health measures, overall safety, and safety for female travellers, LGBTQIA+ travellers, and travellers of colour.”
The main danger was fast-moving bikes, which have their own lanes in Amsterdam and other Dutch cities, forcing travellers to look both ways before crossing the street.
“Also, young bikers’ affinity for high-speed, mini-bike-like e-bikes adds another element of danger,” per the survey.
Coming in second was Australia — despite its reputation for having an almost otherworldly animal population — which received the “highest marks for health measures and is near the top for safety from terrorism.”
Austria came in 3rd place after not ranking previously, while last year’s defending champ, Iceland, slipped to fourth place.
According to the Global Peace Index, the Scandinavian nation was the fourth most peaceful country in the world.
However, Berkshire Hathaway warned that travellers need to watch out for volcanic eruptions.
“Eruptions always carry the potential for disruption, but they’re particularly problematic in Iceland, since the lava flows very often affect the one main road that rings the country,” they wrote.
“This has the potential to leave travellers stranded.”
Canada, meanwhile, rounded out the top five while no other North American nations made the list.
The one saving grace is that the US was ranked the 7th safest nation by respondents whose household income exceeded $US350,000 ($A538,000) per year.
Here are the top 15 safest countries in the world:
- Netherlands
- Australia
- Austria
- Iceland
- Canada
- New Zealand
- United Arab Emirates
- Switzerland
- Japan
- Ireland
- Belgium
- Portugal
- France
- United Kingdom
- Denmark
This story originally appeared in the New York Post
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Originally published as Australia named world’s second safest country in new global travel ranking
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