Do you feel safe in your hometown? The answer will depend on things like local crime rates and how close you are to a full-scale conflict – both of which form part of the Global Peace Index’s (GPI) annual research.
For the past 19 years, the GPI has produced a yearly report on safety in 163 different nations, which account for 99.7 percent of the world’s population. It measures each country on 23 criteria including levels of terrorism, national security, areas of conflict and more, then puts it all together into one conclusive ranking. The UK has never reached the top, but we generally come somewhere in the top 25 percent. This year, we even climbed up the rankings.
Although things have improved here in Britain, the GPI reckons the world as a whole is becoming less stable. Of the past 17 index editions, 13 have seen an overall year-on-year deterioration to peace in the world. Increasing conflicts and militarisation are amongst the reasons the GPI believes things are getting worse.
So how did the UK fare? We came 30th overall in the 2025 GPI, and 20th in Europe. We apparently have the second strongest military in the continent, which helped the high placement. The lowest that the UK has ranked in the GPI was 60th, in 2008 when the index was founded.
The ‘safest’ country this year was Iceland, which has retained the top spot since the index began. It was followed by Ireland and New Zealand. Each of these nations had a high score in the ‘positive peace’ category which rates the quality of the institutions and structures that protect and encourage peace within a country, and the general attitudes of its population.
In the words of the GPI, positive peace is high when ‘attitudes make violence less tolerated, institutions are resilient and more responsive to society’s needs, and structures create the environment for productive and efficient society’. This, it seems, is key to a calm, secure country.
Brits heading to the World Cup in 2026 might want to keep their wits about them, as the USA came 128 out of 163. With increasing political tensions and civil unrest paired with higher violent crime rates, the US is by far one of the lowest scoring countries in the developed world.
Unsurprisingly, Russia and Ukraine were at the bottom of the list, followed by Sudan – all regions with continuing active combat.
The world’s safest and least safe countries for 2026
Here are the 10 most conflict-free nations, based on the 2026 Global Peace Index.
And here are the 10 least-safe based on the data.
- Russia
- Ukraine
- Sudan
- Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Yemen
- Afghanistan
- Syria
- South Sudan
- Israel
- Mali
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