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There are a few factors we all consider when choosing where to go on our next holiday: access to nature, foodie appeal, affordability, weather. And then, of course, there’s safety. 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 Sydney stacks 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 did the Harbour City go in the rankings? The NSW capital scored an overall safety ranking of 86, with relatively high rankings across the broader categories of healthcare, transport and nighttime safety. If the figures in the below chart confuse you, we hear you. The overall safety score is a composite. While it directly averages four main categories – personal safety, night, transport and healthcare – it also weights broader structural factors like violent and petty crime rates, civil and political stability, health-system strength, infrastructure, harassment risk and policing. As a major global city, Sydney excels in these areas. This structural advantage offsets its slightly lower scores in day-to-day categories, while its personal and night readings sit a little lower than a quiet city like Hobart because of busier nightlife districts and more opportunistic crime. The net composite comes out marginally ahead.
Canberra came up trumps as 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 – the Australian capital placed comfortably 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, Brisbane and Hobart also 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 in the chart above.