This Is the World’s Safest Country

By Douglas A. McIntyre Published Jan 21, 5:00PM EST

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This Is the World’s Safest Country — © autau / iStock via Getty Images

Scandinavian nations, especially Norway, often dominate “best countries” lists. Most recently, Norway was named in the United Nations’ latest Human Development Index as the top nation based on quality of life. The World Health Organization named it the best country to raise children. The Swiss-based international investment company RobecoSAM named it the world’s most sustainable country, based on measures that include its environmental policies.

Norway also has extremely high gross domestic product per capita, with its oil and gas exports and reserves, making it one of the richest nations in the world. And its social services are the envy of most other countries. It’s no surprise, then, that Norway is the world’s safest country.

For Gallup’s 2021 “Global Law and Order Report,” researchers interviewed approximately 120,000 adults in 115 nations throughout 2020. Gallup did fieldwork in 51 countries through October of last year.

The Gallup analysis is divided into four parts: Confidence of people in their police force; whether people feel safe walking alone at night; whether people have had money or property stolen from them or another household member; and whether people have been assaulted in the past 12 months. (On the flip side, this is the world’s most dangerous country.)

As might be expected, Norway topped the list for safety, and several other Scandinavian countries were not far behind. Norway’s Law and Order Index score was 94, the highest. Finland (92) and Iceland (92) tied in the top 10. The Netherlands and Denmark, tied at 89, and Sweden at 88, are among the other countries that did extremely well. The U.S. has a score of 87, tied with Spain and ranking 22nd.

The bottom of the list is dominated by underdeveloped countries and those with histories of national unrest and violence. Venezuela and Gabon share a score of 53, which puts them at the lowest rank. (This is the world’s most dangerous city.)

Click here to see the world’s safest country

25. Saudi Arabia
>Law and Order Index score: 86

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24. Canada
>Law and Order Index score: 86

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23. Czech Republic
>Law and Order Index score: 86

22. United States
>Law and Order Index score: 87

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21. Spain
>Law and Order Index score: 87

20. Georgia
>Law and Order Index score: 88

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19. Germany
>Law and Order Index score: 88

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18. Sweden
>Law and Order Index score: 88

17. Malta
>Law and Order Index score: 88

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16. Jordan
>Law and Order Index score: 89

15. Estonia
>Law and Order Index score: 89

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14. Denmark
>Law and Order Index score: 89

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13. Uzbekistan
>Law and Order Index score: 89

12. Netherlands
>Law and Order Index score: 89

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11. Portugal
>Law and Order Index score: 91

10. Austria
>Law and Order Index score: 91

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9. Slovenia
>Law and Order Index score: 91

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8. Taiwan, Province of China
>Law and Order Index score: 91

7. Tajikistan
>Law and Order Index score: 92

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6. Iceland
>Law and Order Index score: 92

5. Finland
>Law and Order Index score: 92

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4. Switzerland
>Law and Order Index score: 93

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3. China
>Law and Order Index score: 93

2. United Arab Emirates
>Law and Order Index score: 93

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1. Norway
>Law and Order Index score: 94

About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.