The 31 safest countries in the world

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The 31 safest countries in the world

budapest hungary parliament

Andrew Shiva/Wikipedia, via Wikimedia Commons

The Hungarian Parliament Building in Budapest. Hungary is the world's 17th safest nation, according to the Peace Index.

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.

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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.

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31. Latvia — 1.689

31. Latvia — 1.689

30. Spain — 1.678

30. Spain — 1.678
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29. Botswana — 1.659

29. Botswana — 1.659

28. Chile — 1.649

28. Chile — 1.649
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27. Croatia — 1.639

27. Croatia — 1.639

26. Bulgaria — 1.635

26. Bulgaria — 1.635
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25. Malaysia — 1.619

25. Malaysia — 1.619

24. Romania — 1.596

24. Romania — 1.596
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23. The Netherlands — 1.574

23. The Netherlands — 1.574

22. Slovakia — 1.568

22. Slovakia — 1.568
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21. Belgium — 1.560

21. Belgium — 1.560

20. Mauritius — 1.548

20. Mauritius — 1.548
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19. Bhutan — 1.545

19. Bhutan — 1.545

T17. Hungary — 1.531

T17. Hungary — 1.531
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T17. Germany — 1.531

T17. Germany — 1.531

16. Norway — 1.519

16. Norway — 1.519
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15. Finland — 1.506

15. Finland — 1.506

14. Sweden — 1.502

14. Sweden — 1.502
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13. Australia — 1.435

13. Australia — 1.435

12. Switzerland — 1.407

12. Switzerland — 1.407
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11. Slovenia — 1.396

11. Slovenia — 1.396

10. Ireland — 1.393

10. Ireland — 1.393
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9. Japan — 1.391

9. Japan — 1.391

8. Singapore — 1.382

8. Singapore — 1.382
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7. Czech Republic — 1.381

7. Czech Republic — 1.381

6. Canada — 1.372

6. Canada — 1.372
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5. Denmark — 1.353

5. Denmark — 1.353

4. Portugal — 1.318

4. Portugal — 1.318
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3. Austria — 1.274

3. Austria — 1.274

2. New Zealand — 1.192

2. New Zealand — 1.192
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1. Iceland — 1.096

1. Iceland — 1.096