7.88/10 Overall safety score
In first place is the Republic of Ireland, which was amongst the top-scoring nations for almost all of the eight factors analyzed.
The Emerald Isle scores particularly highly for the laws it has in place to protect women from violence, as well as when it comes to local attitudes toward violence against women.
Ireland is well known for its friendly and welcoming nature and is popular with travelers for its natural beauty and historic attractions in the capital of Dublin.
7.70/10 Overall safety score
In second place is Austria, with an overall score of 7.70 out of 10. The country scores particularly high when it comes to the percentage of women who feel safe walking alone at night (79%).
Tourism to Austria is popular due to the spectacular Alpine landscapes, forests, lakes, and attractions such as the Belvedere Palace in Vienna.
It’s also generally a safe country for all genders, with low crime rates, so it’s a perfect destination for solo travel.
7.45/10 Overall safety score
Third place goes to Norway, with Scandinavia and other Northern European countries often ranking highly for social progressiveness.
That proves to be the case again here, with Norway scoring highly for the safety of women walking alone at night, its laws on domestic violence, and its female homicide rate.
More generally, Norway is known for being a very safe country with low crime rates and has long been an early adopter of legislation and policies supporting women’s rights.
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Women who have experienced violence
The number of women who have suffered violence from a partner is a good indicator of the attitudes toward violence against women in a country, and the nation with the lowest rate is Canada.
In Canada, just 1.9% of women say that they have experienced violence from a partner in their lifetime, which is 20 times lower than in the worst country on the list.
Per 100,000 females
In terms of the rate of women who are killed each year, it’s Japan and Norway that are the safest, with 0.3 victims per 100,000 women.
Both of these countries are considered to be very safe for all genders, but it’s reassuring to see that the levels of such crimes against women are so low in both as well.
Out of 100
Looking more broadly at safety in general in each country, the safest country for people of all genders is Switzerland, with a Safety Index Score of 78.32 out of 100 according to Numbeo.
Switzerland has very high standards of living and education, with crime rates being very low, and strict rules on gun control.
Of women feel safe
Norway comes top for another factor, this time the number of women who feel safe walking alone at night, at 83%.
This is likely due to the very low crime rates in Norway, even in the major cities such as Oslo, Bergen, and Stavanger.
Of women believe it can be justified
How people feel about violence towards women is perhaps one of the most important factors to consider when traveling somewhere.
This indicator looks at the percentage of women who believe that a man is justified in beating their partner in some circumstances, which stands at just 1% in Ireland, but is as high as just under one in five in other countries.
Rating 0 = best, 1 = worst
For this indicator, a lower score shows that a country offers a legal framework that offers women protection from domestic violence, without discriminating against women’s rights.
A number of countries on our list achieved a score of 0.3 here, including France, Canada, South Korea, Portugal, and Turkey.
Out of 1
Looking more broadly at which nations offer women the highest level of equality, and thus are more likely to make them feel safe and accepted, it’s another Nordic country that comes out on top, Finland.
Finland scores 0.861 out of 1 on the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2021, which rates nations on various equality measures such as economic participation, educational attainment, political empowerment, and more.
Each country was analyzed on the following factors, with each one being given a normalized score out of ten for each factor before an average across all of these scores was taken.
The percentage of women who have experienced physical and/or sexual violence from an intimate partner at some time in their life, according to OECD Data from 2019 (or the latest date available).
The number of female victims of intentional homicide per 100,000 females according to the World Bank from 2018 (or the latest date available).
A score out of 100 on the overall safety of the country according to Numbeo’s Crime Index (as of May 17th 2022.
The percentage of women who feel safe walking alone at night in the area where they live according to a Gallup World Poll, sourced via the OECD’s How’s Life? report. Report from 2018 (or the latest date available).
The percentage of women who agree that a husband/partner is justified in beating his wife/partner under certain circumstances, according to OECD Data from 2019 (or the latest date available).
Whether the legal framework offers women legal protection from domestic violence. Laws on domestic violence are presented as values ranging from 0 to 1, where 0 means that laws or practices do not discriminate against women’s rights and 1 means laws or practices fully discriminate against women’s rights, according to OECD Data from 2019 (or the latest date available).
The country’s score (out of 1) on the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2021.
