Safest Countries in The Americas & Caribbean
The safest countries in North America, The Caribbean & South America for tourism and travel. Safest countries in the Caribbean, North America and South America are based on crime/homicide rates and drugs and crime, likelihood of terrorism and terrorism casualties, police force effectiveness, costs of security within the country on business, reliability of protection services, rates of property crime and violence. Updated in 2024.
| Country | 2024 Regional Rank | Resource Books & Travel Guides *affiliate links* |
World Rank |
| Canada | 1 | Canada | 11 |
| Costa Rica | 2 | Costa Rica | 39 |
| Uruguay | 3 | Uruguay | 50 |
| Chile | 4 | Chile | 58 |
| Panama | 5 | Panama | 68 |
| Argentina | 6 | Argentina | 54 |
| Paraguay | 7 | Paraguay | 69 |
| Ecuador | 8 | Ecuador | 97 |
| Bolivia | 9 | Bolivia | 78 |
| Dominican Republic | 10 | Dominican Republic | 83 |
| Jamaica | 11 | Jamaica | 77 |
| Trinidad and Tobago | 12 | Trinidad & Tobago | 70 |
| Cuba | 13 | Cuba | 99 |
| Peru | 14 | Peru | 104 |
| Guatemala | 15 | Guatemala | 103 |
| Guyana | 16 | Guyana | 106 |
| El Salvador | 17 | El Salvador | 122 |
| Haiti | 18 | Haiti | 129 |
| Honduras | 19 | Honduras | 120 |
| Nicaragua | 20 | Nicaragua | 123 |
| United States | 21 | United States | 131 |
| Brazil | 22 | Brazil | 132 |
| Mexico | 23 | Mexico | 136 |
| Colombia | 24 | Columbia | 141 |
| Venezuela | 25 | Venezuela | 140 |
Dangers can lurk in any city, park or town and being a safe vacationer means paying attention and keeping yourself out of harms way. Crimes and violence can happen in the lowest rated country in South America as it could happen in the safest rated country in the Caribbean so these figures should only be used as a guide to help compare a safe travel destination.
Today’s travelers and tourists are more and more wanting to visit the natural beauty and remote regions of a country in order to discover more than just the big cities and commonly advertised attractions so now, more than ever, the safety and security of any particular destination is a key deciding factor of a the safety rating a country receives. These rankings presented here are based on the reliability of the police and legal protective system in a country as well as the rates of criminal activity and the potential for terrorism.
World Safety Rankings
Safest Countries in Europe
Safest Countries in Oceania & Asia
Safest Countries in the Middle East & Africa
Does the index also take earthquakes into consideration?
This current data does not reflect natural disasters but we are updating a set of data to show countries ranked on their risks for floods, earthquakes, fires, and other natural disasters that could impact vacations.
The Earthquakes & Natural Disasters page discusses the risk in various countries.
Funny that Cuba never even made the list
Cuba had insufficient data collection to be included on this list however there was data on the Peace Ranking of Cuba where it was ranked 85 out of 164, higher than the USA. Cuba can be extremely safe for travel and I have personally been there twice and felt completely safe on my three week Cuban adventure. The Peace Rankings showing Cuba are listed here: https://safedestinations.com/ranking-peace-of-the-countries-of-the-world/