Global safety refers to how secure people feel in their communities, as reported annually in Gallup’s Global Safety Report.
How to Measure Global Safety
We use the Gallup World Poll to ask people in more than 140 countries and territories the following question:
- Do you feel safe walking alone at night in the city or area where you live?
The United Nations uses Gallup data for this question as a benchmark indicator of progress on Sustainable Development Goal 16.1 — to significantly reduce all forms of violence and related death rates everywhere.
- In 2024, 73% of adults worldwide told Gallup they feel safe walking alone at night where they live — the highest percentage since we began tracking nearly two decades ago.
In addition to asking about their feelings of safety, we ask three questions measuring people’s confidence in their local police and their personal experience with assault and theft in the past year.
Collectively, the positive responses to these four questions form Gallup’s Law and Order Index score for each country.
What is the safest country in the world?
Singapore is the safest country in the world, based on people’s perceptions, with 98% of residents saying they feel safe walking alone at night in the latest Global Safety Report.
Ninety percent or more of people in Tajikistan (95%), China (94%), Oman (94%), Saudi Arabia (93%), Hong Kong, S.A.R. of China (91%), Kuwait (91%), Norway (91%), Bahrain (90%), and United Arab Emirates (90%) say they feel safe walking alone at night.
What is the safest country in Europe?
According to the latest Global Safety Report, Norway is the safest country in Europe based on people’s perceptions. Ninety-one percent of adults there say they feel safe walking alone at night.
More than four in five people in the following European countries also say they feel safe walking home alone at night:
- Norway (91%)
- Denmark (89%)
- Kosovo (89%)
- Finland (88%)
- Iceland (88%)
- Switzerland (88%)
- Montenegro (87%)
- Austria (84%)
- Slovenia (84%)
- Estonia (83%)
- Netherlands (82%)
- Spain (81%)
- Sweden (81%)
What is the safest country in Post-Soviet Eurasia?
Tajikistan is the safest country in Post-Soviet Eurasia, based on people’s perceptions, with 95% of residents saying they feel safe walking alone at night in the latest Global Safety Report.
A majority of adults in each of the region’s countries reported feeling safe walking alone at night in their area. That includes Ukraine — the country in the region least likely to report feeling safe.
What is the safest country in Latin America and the Caribbean?
El Salvador is the safest country in Latin America and the Caribbean, based on people’s perceptions, with 87% of adults saying they feel safe walking alone at night in the latest Global Safety Report.
Belize is the next safest country in the region, with about three-quarters of residents saying they feel safe walking alone at night.
What is the safest country in Sub-Saharan Africa?
Rwanda is the safest country in sub-Saharan Africa, based on people’s perceptions, with 78% of adults saying they feel safe walking alone at night in the latest Global Safety Report.
At least two-thirds of adults in Mali (69%), Tanzania (68%), Burkina Faso (67%), Comoros (67%) and Niger (67%) also say they feel safe walking alone at night in their area.
What is the safest country in the Middle East and North Africa?
Five of the 10 countries or territories globally with 90% or more adults saying they feel safe are in the Middle East and North Africa, according to the latest Global Safety Report:
- Oman (94%)
- Saudi Arabia (93%)
- Kuwait (91%)
- Bahrain (90%)
- United Arab Emirates (90%)
What is the safest country in Asia-Pacific?
In addition to being the safest country in the world based on people’s perceptions, Singapore is the safest country in Asia-Pacific, with 98% of residents saying they feel safe walking alone at night, according to the latest Global Safety Report.
Singapore is one of three Asia-Pacific countries or territories in which more than 90% of adults say they feel safe:
- Singapore (98%)
- China (94%)
- Hong Kong, S.A.R. of China (91%)
Where does the United States rank in safety?
Seventy-one percent of people in the U.S. say they feel safe walking alone at night in the city or area where they live, according to the latest Global Safety Report. The percentage is one of the lowest Gallup has measured for the U.S. since first asking the question in 2006.
Comparatively, neighboring country Canada sees 75% of its adults saying they feel safe.
Methodology
These results are from the latest Global Safety Report and based on nationally representative, probability-based samples among the adult population aged 15 and older in 144 countries and territories in 2024. The results are based on telephone or face-to-face surveys of approximately 1,000 or more respondents in each country or territory.
For results based on the total sample of national adults in 2024, the margin of sampling error ranges between ±3.3 and ±5.4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. The margin of error reflects the influence of data weighting. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.