New reports show the risks of travel around the world
From the infection with covid-19 to to be caught in a snowstorm, traveling can be a risky business these days.
How risky, however, often depends on the goal – and how you define the risks.
Safest places: people’s perceptions
A report published by UK-based insurance company William Russell ranked the “safest cities in the world” according to people.
In this list, which relied on perceived crime rates in the global database Numbeo, Asia and Europe dominated the ranking of the “safest” cities.
Taiwan’s Taipei scored the highest, while Buenos Aires, Argentina scored the lowest (score: 36.7), the report showed.
Safest cities: health and politics
But the top five places for “health and safety” in Euromonitor International “Top 100 City Destinations Index 2022“are different.
This ranking, published in December, analyzed “political stability and social security”, which includes the impact of Covid-19 (such as total cases, death and vaccination rates), as well as traffic accidents, government corruption and terrorism statistics.
Cities in the Middle East and Asia came out on top here.
- Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
- Dubai, United Arab Emirates
- Doha, Qatar
- Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
- Singapore, Singapore
Paris topped market research firm Euromonitor International’s “Top 100 City Destinations” for 2022, but the United Arab Emirates’ Sharjah, shown here, ranked highest for health and safety.
Štefan Tomić E+ | Getty Images
“The Middle East … takes the top four spots,” said Vitaly Vladykin, senior research manager at Euromonitor International, while “Singapore is ranked first in the category of political stability in 2019-2022.”
“Health and safety” is one of six factors used by Euromonitor International to compile its annual City Destination Index.
Safest places: health risks
The report by travel security company International SOS analyzes not only the risk of infectious diseases, but also factors that can affect health care, such as the quality of specialist and emergency services, availability of medicines and language barriers.
His Travel Risk Map 2023 shows that much of North America and Western Europe – as well as places like Turkey, Israel, Japan, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates – have “low” health risks.
Health risks by country.
International SOS
The map shows Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, North Korea and parts of Africa as having “very high” health risks, which International SOS defines as “almost non-existent or severely overburdened” health systems.
States colored purple have “significant disparities” in health risks, which may translate into differences in levels of care between cities and rural areas, according to the report.
This map does not reflect the Covid-19 outbreak currently occurring in China, said Dr. Irene Lai, Medical Director at International SOS. Rather than showing specific disease outbreaks, the map focuses on the “background” of health conditions in countries around the world, she said.
Safest places: security risks
International SOSs Travel risk map it also assesses security risks, which include crime and political violence such as terrorism and war, social unrest and susceptibility to natural disasters, the company said.
Sally Llewellyn, security director of International SOS, said around 25 locations around the world have “minor” security risks: American Samoa, Andorra, Anguilla, British Virgin Islands, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands, Cook Islands, Denmark, Finland, Greenland , Iceland, Kiribati, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Marshall Islands, Monaco, Nauru, Norway, San Marino, Seychelles, Slovenia, Switzerland, Turks and Caicos, Tuvalu and Wallis and Futuna.
Some countries have different levels of risk within their borders. For example, the map shows that most of Egypt has “high” security risks, but risks are lower in Cairo and areas east of the Nile River.
Mexico has the combination “medium” and “high” risk on the map, while Thailand’s borders with Myanmar, Malaysia and Cambodia are rated as more risky than the rest of the country according to the map.
International SOS said security risks have increased in several places this year, including Ukraine, Colombia and the Sahel.
The Sahel is a region in North Africa that includes parts of Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Chad, Sudan and other countries. According to the map, there is a mix of “high” and “extreme” security risks in the region.