Ranking nations by how dangerous they are, either for residents or visitors, has become a small industry unto itself. The metrics differ from study to study. Some are based on crime, others on air pollution, who runs the country, the freedom of expression of residents or the weather. Some of the studies create indices that combine one or more of these.
Among the studies regularly referenced are those from The World Population Review, International SOS and the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP). A new one has been released by Merchant Marine, titled “The Safest & Most Dangerous Countries Across the World.”
The Merchant Marine study considers the 38 OECD nations, which is a small sample. It considered peace, cybercrime-related searches, theft, robbery, homicide, kidnapping and imprisonment. These were weighted to create a “final” index.
Merchant Machine’s research found that Turkey is the most dangerous country amongst the OCED countries. It has the highest rate for imprisonment, which is at 322 per 100,000 people. Additionally, it has the worst rating for the Global Peace Index at 2.84, resulting in it being the least peaceful country.
Turkey’s final index score was 5.87, the highest among the nations that were considered. Costa Rica followed with a score of 4.88, then Mexico and the United States.
How incomplete are the rankings? By some yardsticks, very. The level of danger for the poor in countries differs from the middle and upper classes. Much of the crime in Mexico is related to the drug trade. People who live in parts of Mexico where the trade is not prevalent are most likely safer than those where the trade is centered. The United States is a case in point. Downtown Cleveland is more dangerous than downtown Beverly Hills.
These are the 10 most dangerous countries in the world:
- Turkey (5.87)
- Costa Rica (4.88)
- Mexico (4.61)
- United States (4.32)
- Colombia (4.31)
- Israel (4.19)
- United Kingdom (4.09)
- New Zealand (4.06)
- Belgium (3.67)
- Chile (3.59)
Click here to see which are America’s most dangerous states.
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