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There’s nothing quite like the giddy rush of planning your next holiday. Deciding a destination generally comes down to your annual leave balance, your budget and the weather – but safety is a massive factor too.
According to independent travel safety publication Kakapo, most destinations are markedly safer than headlines suggest. They’ve just dropped a new Travel Safety Index, letting you check the exact safety scores of almost 1,000 cities across the globe in real time – and we’ve dug into the data to see how the major Australian capitals stack up.
What makes this index different from other safety rankings is that it’s tailored for travellers, rather than residents. While traditional reports like Numbeo or the EIU offer once-a-year snapshots or rely on opinion surveys, Kakapo’s data is live and constantly updating. It crunches the latest data from official travel advisories and combines it with healthcare, transport and night safety scores.
So, how do Australia’s major cities stack up? Canberra is the nation’s safest destination for travellers, with an overall safety score of 88 out of 100 – well above the global mean of 78.5. This comfortably places the capital in the top 20 per cent of safest cities worldwide.
Canberra locked in the highest healthcare score of any Australian city (92), with ample hospitals serving its sub-million population. The city scored highly for transport (86), thanks to seamless light rail and bus connections within the CBD. Plus, crime against tourists is virtually non-existent, with Canberra’s planned-city layout, wide streets and abundant parklands giving the capital a quiet, ordered and relaxed feel.
On a global scale, Singapore and Monaco top the list with the highest safety score of 96, while Japan boasts four of the top-ten cities. Closer to home, Sydney, Brisbane and Hobart all landed just above the regional Oceania average of 84. That puts our local capitals well ahead of iconic European hotspots like London (81), Paris (80) and Rome (79).
You can explore more cities’ safety rankings here or check out the Australian rankings below.
