When people think of Australia, they might imagine a land filled with man-eating crocodiles, stinging jellyfish, hairy spiders and venomous snakes. While we do have our fair share of deadly critters, Australia isn’t as wild and wacky as it’s made out to be. We’re not the only ones who think so too, with a recent report naming Australia as the world's second safest country for travellers.
The annual study by travel insurance company Berkshire Hathaway goes far beyond just looking at levels of terrorist activity or disease outbreaks; it also considers how freely people can move about, stay disease-free and be sheltered from severe weather events. To compile the rankings, they combined safety ratings from travellers who had visited each country in the last five years, with data from global safety studies, like the Global Peace Index and the State Department’s travel safety ratings.
This isn’t the first time Australia has appeared on the world’s safest travel destinations list, leaping from tenth place in 2024 to second in 2025. While our wacky wildlife and harsh UV rays may have knocked us down a few pegs in safety, our far-flung location and low crime rates helped us climb the ranks.
Recognising that traveller safety varies across different demographics, Berkshire Hathaway also compiled top ten lists for six subcategories. According to the data, Australia ranked second for transportation safety, third for protection against violent crime, fourth for safety among women, LGBTQIA+ travellers and people of colour, fifth for terrorism safety, and sixth for health measures.
Unlike in past years, survey respondents had wildly different perceptions of the world’s safest countries depending on their age. Millennials ranked Australia as the third safest country to travel to, while Gen Z ranked it eighth and mature respondents ranked it fifth. Parents, however, showed Australia plenty of love, naming it the number one safest country to travel with kids.
For the first time ever, the researchers introduced a Safe Travel Hall of Fame, with Australia being recognised as one of only eight countries to have averaged a top ten position since the Safest Places ratings began in 2018.
It’s worth noting that the world is a highly unpredictable place and a certain country’s safety status can shift overnight. If you are travelling to Australia and find yourself in an emergency, here are the numbers you need to keep handy.
Here are the 15 safest travel destinations in 2025:
- Iceland
- Australia
- Canada
- Ireland
- Switzerland
- New Zealand
- Germany
- Norway
- Japan
- Denmark
- Portugal
- Spain
- United Kingdom
- Netherlands
- Sweden
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