Canada ranked as world’s safest country for travel in 2024
According to a Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection (BHTP) report published in late 2023, Canada is regarded as the world’s safest country for travellers in 2023-2024.
BHTP states that the overall rankings are based on an average of “all measures from [BHTP’s] State of Travel Insurance research,” which includes “six sub-category scores as the basis.”
Furthermore, BHTP notes that it balances its own surveyed “ratings with other indices and information, including the Global Peace Index and the State Department’s own travel safety ratings” and that it “also [averages] the GeoSure Global scores of the major cities in each country.”
BHTP uses a combination of measures to “calculate a weighted score that reflects each country’s overall safety.”
Canada’s ranking is up five places from a year ago.
Canada has risen from sixth place in the BHTP rankings last year to first place this year in the rankings of the world’s safest places to travel.
The report attributes Canada’s high ranking to “cold weather and low population density, [which] make for safe travels.”
Furthermore, each of the top 15 countries in BHTP’s rankings received its own section in this year’s report, which included a section titled “what you need to watch out for.”
This section identified wildfires as a source of concern for travellers in Canada, stating that “Canada’s plethora of forests were seemingly all burning, which has reduced air quality in most major Canadian cities.” This made travel to Canada more difficult for people with respiratory conditions.
The Gap Year Travel Store quote summarizes travel safety in Canada, stating that “as travelling destinations go, it really doesn’t get much safer than Canada.” Violent crime is comparatively low, as is the incidence of gun crime.”
Breaking down Canada’s ranking by sub-categories
The BHTP report ranks the safest countries for travel based on the following dimensions:
•Safety from violent crime.
•Safety from terrorism
•Transportation Safety*
•Health measures, including disease.
•Safety for groups (women, travellers of colour, and LGBTQ+ people)
Notably, Canada ranked first in all of the subcategories included in this year’s rankings. Click here to view the top ten countries in each sub-category.
* According to BHTP, transportation safety includes “countries with either well-developed road and transportation systems (everywhere but Iceland) or a limited need to travel far (Iceland).”
BHTP rankings based on age and income
BHTP also states that survey respondents for the 2023-2024 version of these rankings “had wildly different perceptions of the world’s safest countries depending on their age and income.”
Nonetheless, in most cases, Canada ranked among the top four safest countries for travel, according to these sub-groups.
In comparison to the overall rankings, the following shows how Canada’s position in the BHTP rankings would have changed if presented based on responses from specific groups of respondents.
Millennials
Among Millennials polled by BHTP, Canada ranked fourth in overall travel safety, trailing Norway, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
Gen
Among Gen Z respondents to BHTP’s survey, Canada remained the leader in overall travel safety.
Respondents whose household income exceeds $200,000
Among BHTP survey respondents with this household income level, Canada ranked second in overall travel safety, trailing only Portugal.
Respondents spending more than $25,000 annually on travel
Among BHTP survey respondents in this travel spending category, Canada ranked sixth in overall travel safety, trailing the Netherlands, Hungary, the United Kingdom, the Bahamas, and Portugal.
“Mature” survey respondents
Although the report does not specify the age range for “mature” respondents, BHTP survey respondents in this age range ranked Canada as the ninth safest country for travel overall. For this group of respondents, Canada ranked below:
· Iceland
· South Korea
· Sweden
· Japan
· Denmark
· Norway
· New Zealand
· Ireland
Parents
According to parents who responded to BHTP’s survey, Canada remained number one in overall travel safety.
LGBTQ+ travellers
Uniquely, BHTP survey respondents who identified as LGBTQ+ were the only subset of respondents who completely excluded Canada from their top ten safest travel destinations.
