For people who aren't Aussie locals, the thought of travelling to Australia might conjure up fears of giant spiders, snakes and crocodiles on the loose. It's true, we do have some wacky wildlife Down Under, but these fears are based on exaggerated tales of what Oz is actually like.
We're here to reassure you that if you visit Australia, you definitely won't be constantly running from wild dingoes or spotting sharks. If you've got a reasonable amount of common sense, it's a very safe country.
We promise that we're not biased – there's proof to back it up, with a new study declaring that Australia is among the top ten safest countries to travel to in 2024. Travel insurance company Berkshire Hathaway has released data from their annual State of Travel Insurance research, revealing which countries are considered the safest travel destinations.
Topping the list was Canada, followed by Norway and Switzerland rounding out the top three. Australia was number ten on the list, followed by New Zealand.
According to the study, the safety level of a country can be defined by a variety of factors, such as being free from terrorism, safe from disease outbreaks, free from discrimination and harassment and not prone to severe weather events.
The data to determine the safest countries was compiled through a survey, which asked people where they’ve traveled in the last five years and how they'd rate them for safety. This was supplemented with other global safety studies, like the Global Peace Index, to determine the final rankings.
One of the main reasons that Australia took out the tenth spot on the list was our lower number of homicides last year, at only 377 incidents. It sounds like a big number, but when you consider that the city of Chicago recorded 692 in the same year, it seems much better. Admittedly, while we don't want to enforce the stereotype, the study does note that travellers do need to be wary of wildlife when in rural areas or swimming in certain parts of the country.
Those who are visiting our shores for the first time should also be warned that lots of sun protection should be worn during summer because of that pesky hole in the ozone layer above our skies, to avoid some seriously painful sunburn. Trust us, we've experienced it and it's not fun.
Here's the full list of the safest countries to travel to in 2024:
- Canada
- Switzerland
- Norway
- Ireland
- Netherlands
- United Kingdom
- Portugal
- Denmark
- Iceland
- Australia
- New Zealand
- Japan
- France
- Spain
- Brazil