Best Countries for Americans by Safety (2026)
A 2026 Expat Almanac cut. Every country that scored 4 or 5 on the Safety metric, sorted first by that score, then by composite. Read the intro below the ranking for what the metric measures and how the Expat Almanac composes it.
The 2026 Safety rankings
69 countries scored 4 or 5 on Safety this year. The top of the ranking includes Switzerland, Portugal, Australia, Czechia, Singapore.
Safety is the second-heaviest weighting in the 2026 Expat Almanac (12% of the composite by default), because a family's baseline sense of security shapes every other decision after arrival. High Safety scores cluster in Northern and Central Europe (Switzerland, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal), a handful of Asia-Pacific destinations (Japan, Singapore, Australia), and Malta and Cyprus in the south. The table below shows every country that scored a 4 or 5, sorted first by Safety score, then by composite as the tie-breaker.
| Rank | Country | Region | Safety | Composite |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Switzerland | Europe | 5 | 83.4 |
| 2 | Portugal | Europe | 5 | 82.6 |
| 3 | Australia | Asia-Pacific | 5 | 82.4 |
| 4 | Czechia | Europe | 5 | 80.6 |
| 5 | Singapore | Asia-Pacific | 5 | 80.2 |
| 6 | South Korea | Asia-Pacific | 5 | 80.0 |
| 7 | New Zealand | Asia-Pacific | 5 | 79.6 |
| 8 | Ireland | Europe | 5 | 78.0 |
| 9 | Austria | Europe | 5 | 77.2 |
| 10 | Slovenia | Europe | 5 | 77.2 |
| 11 | Japan | Asia-Pacific | 5 | 75.2 |
| 12 | Denmark | Europe | 5 | 74.2 |
| 13 | Luxembourg | Europe | 5 | 74.0 |
| 14 | Norway | Europe | 5 | 74.0 |
| 15 | Iceland | Europe | 5 | 73.2 |
| 16 | Finland | Europe | 5 | 72.2 |
| 17 | Brunei | Asia-Pacific | 5 | 67.6 |
| 18 | Vanuatu | Asia-Pacific | 5 | 62.0 |
| 19 | Tonga | Asia-Pacific | 5 | 58.4 |
| 20 | Micronesia | Asia-Pacific | 5 | 53.2 |
| 21 | Malta | Europe | 4 | 85.4 |
| 22 | Greece | Europe | 4 | 84.0 |
| 23 | Italy | Europe | 4 | 84.0 |
| 24 | Spain | Europe | 4 | 83.6 |
| 25 | Malaysia | Asia-Pacific | 4 | 83.4 |
| 26 | Uruguay | Latin America | 4 | 82.8 |
| 27 | France | Europe | 4 | 81.6 |
| 28 | Hungary | Europe | 4 | 81.2 |
| 29 | Antigua & Barbuda | Caribbean | 4 | 80.4 |
| 30 | United Kingdom | Europe | 4 | 80.0 |
| 31 | Cyprus | Europe | 4 | 79.8 |
| 32 | Monaco | Europe | 4 | 78.8 |
| 33 | Poland | Europe | 4 | 76.6 |
| 34 | Bahamas | Caribbean | 4 | 76.4 |
| 35 | Germany | Europe | 4 | 75.8 |
| 36 | Netherlands | Europe | 4 | 75.8 |
| 37 | Andorra | Europe | 4 | 75.4 |
| 38 | Estonia | Europe | 4 | 75.4 |
| 39 | Belgium | Europe | 4 | 75.2 |
| 40 | Thailand | Asia-Pacific | 4 | 75.2 |
| 41 | Latvia | Europe | 4 | 73.8 |
| 42 | Montenegro | Europe | 4 | 73.8 |
| 43 | Romania | Europe | 4 | 73.8 |
| 44 | Canada | North America | 4 | 73.6 |
| 45 | Croatia | Europe | 4 | 73.6 |
| 46 | Liechtenstein | Europe | 4 | 73.2 |
| 47 | Barbados | Caribbean | 4 | 72.0 |
| 48 | Kuwait | Middle East & Africa | 4 | 72.0 |
| 49 | Slovakia | Europe | 4 | 71.4 |
| 50 | San Marino | Europe | 4 | 71.2 |
| 51 | Sweden | Europe | 4 | 71.2 |
| 52 | Lithuania | Europe | 4 | 70.8 |
| 53 | Qatar | Middle East & Africa | 4 | 70.8 |
| 54 | Mauritius | Middle East & Africa | 4 | 70.6 |
| 55 | Bahrain | Middle East & Africa | 4 | 70.4 |
| 56 | Saudi Arabia | Middle East & Africa | 4 | 69.0 |
| 57 | China | Asia-Pacific | 4 | 68.6 |
| 58 | Jordan | Middle East & Africa | 4 | 68.2 |
| 59 | Oman | Middle East & Africa | 4 | 68.0 |
| 60 | Maldives | Asia-Pacific | 4 | 66.6 |
| 61 | Nauru | Asia-Pacific | 4 | 60.4 |
| 62 | Indonesia | Asia-Pacific | 4 | 58.4 |
| 63 | Fiji | Asia-Pacific | 4 | 57.6 |
| 64 | Bhutan | Asia-Pacific | 4 | 57.0 |
| 65 | Marshall Islands | Asia-Pacific | 4 | 54.0 |
| 66 | Kiribati | Asia-Pacific | 4 | 52.4 |
| 67 | Samoa | Asia-Pacific | 4 | 47.4 |
| 68 | Senegal | Middle East & Africa | 4 | 47.2 |
| 69 | Syria | Middle East & Africa | 4 | 41.2 |
What Safety measures in the Expat Almanac
The Safety score in the Expat Almanac is a 40% blend of homicide-rate and organized-crime data, plus 30% political stability and 30% rule of law, all drawn from World Bank and UNODC sources. A 5 means a country consistently sits in the global top decile across all three components. A 1 means structural instability or high violent-crime exposure a US family would feel in daily life. The rubric is on the methodology page.
The metric is one of 10 the Expat Almanac tracks. See the methodology page for the full rubric, or head back to the main Expat Almanac to re-weight the metrics to your priorities and see the ranking recompute.
Featured Safety destinations
The featured countries our team currently advises on that scored a perfect 5 on this metric. Ordered by composite score. Click through for the residency and citizenship programs each one offers.
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Frequently asked questions
What does "Safety" measure in the 2026 Expat Almanac?
Safety blends three components: 40% homicide and organized-crime data (UNODC + Numbeo Crime Index), 30% political stability (World Bank), and 30% rule of law (World Bank Worldwide Governance Indicators). It is the second-heaviest weighting in the default composite because your baseline sense of security shapes every other decision after you move.
Which are the safest countries for Americans to live abroad?
Switzerland, Iceland, Portugal, Japan, Norway, and the Netherlands consistently rank at the top for American families. Malta and Cyprus lead Southern Europe, while Singapore and Australia lead Asia-Pacific. Every one of those destinations scores a 5 on the Safety column.
Are safety rankings different for retirees vs families with young children?
The underlying data is the same, but what matters shifts. Retirees weight rule of law and political stability more (contract enforcement, property rights, elder-care safety). Families with young children weight homicide and violent-crime data more, plus neighborhood-level factors that don't appear in national statistics. Use the priorities panel on the main Expat Almanac to re-weight the composite to your situation.
How does Latin America rank on safety?
Uruguay, Costa Rica, and Panama score highest in the region on the Expat Almanac Safety column, followed by Argentina and Chile. Mexico and Colombia vary substantially by city and neighborhood, which national statistics don't capture. If you are seriously evaluating a Latin American destination, the country page walks through the specific expat cities that outperform the national average.
Which countries combine high safety with low cost of living?
Portugal, Malta, Uruguay, and Panama score well on both Safety and Cost of Living columns. Hungary and Czechia offer similar combinations inside Central Europe. Malaysia is the highest Asia-Pacific pick on that combined axis for Americans on a modest budget.
Where should Americans avoid on safety grounds?
The Expat Almanac's fragile-state category and several destinations with active conflict or organized-crime saturation score 1 or 2. Those countries appear farther down the main Expat Almanac and are excluded from this cut, which only shows destinations that scored 4 or higher.
Other cuts of the Expat Almanac
Each cut re-sorts the Expat Almanac by a single metric and adds context specific to that intent.