Czechia ranks among world's safest nations for expats—here's why

According to a new study by British insurance firm William Russell, Czechia is among the world’s safest countries to move to for expats. It ranked just outside the top 10 globally in an index comprising over 160 countries. It is the eighth-safest country in all of Europe too, outranking the likes of Germany, Norway, and Belgium. 

The study ranked the safest countries based on personal security, public health, infrastructure, poverty risk, environmental safety, and digital security. It used the 2024 Global Peace Index and the World Risk Report, evaluating crime rates, political stability, terrorism, natural disaster resilience, and healthcare access.

William Russell gave Czechia a Peace Index score of 1.46, where values closer to 1 indicate the greatest levels of safety. For comparison, the least safe country in the world—Afghanistan—scores at 3.29. Iceland, the world’s safest country, was 1.1.

Czechia’s capital has previously performed well in safety-related rankings. According to a 2023 study by William Russell, Prague was the world’s third-safest city for travelers and the safest destination in all of Europe.

Other rankings have also given Czechia relatively strong scores in overall safety. According to the 2024 Safety Index by statistical aggregator Numbeo, Czechia was Europe’s 12th safest state last year (a fall from 2023, likely in part due to Prague’s mass shooting). It was also the second-safest country in Central and Eastern Europe.

On Numbeo, the chances of “being mugged or robbed,” “subject to a physical attack,” or having one’s home broken into are adjudged to all be “very low.” Out of 156 minor and major cities across all of Europe, Prague is within the top 20 cities with the least amount of crime.

In the William Russell study, the top three safest states were Iceland, Ireland, and Austria.