According to a Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection (BHTP) report released in late 2023, Canada is considered the world’s safest country for travelers in 2023-2024.
BHTP notes that the general rankings are based on a normal of “all measures from [BHTP’s] State of Travel Insurance research”, which combines “six sub-category scores as the basis” for the rankings.
Furthermore, BHTP notes that it balances its own surveyed “ratings with other indices and information, including the Worldwide Peace List and the State Division’s own travel safety ratings”, adding that BHTP “also [averages] the GeoSure Worldwide scores of the significant cities in each country.”
Together BHTP uses this range of measures to “calculate a weighted score that reflects each country’s general safety.”
Canada’s positioning is up five spots from a year prior
Up from sixth place in BHTP’s rankings last year, Canada has ascended to the top spot in the rankings for the world’s safest places to travel this year.
According to the report, key reasons for Canada’s high positioning include “cold weather and low population density, [which] make for safe travels.”
Further, each of the top 15 countries in BHTP’s rankings was given a dedicated section in this year’s report, which included a section named “what you really want to watch out for.”
For Canada, this section recognized wildfires as an area of concern for travelers, taking note of that “Canada’s plenty of forests were seemingly all consuming, which has reduced air quality in most significant Canadian cities. This made travel to Canada difficult for individuals with respiratory conditions.”
Still, the quote included in Canada’s dedicated section of the report (from Hole Year Travel Store) sums up travel safety across the country this way, saying “as traveling destinations go it truly doesn’t get much safer than Canada … Vicious crime is comparatively low and there is a low incidence of weapon related crime.”
Separating Canada’s positioning by sub-category
BHTP’s report uses the accompanying dimensions to produce a general positioning of the safest countries for travel:
- Safety from savage crime
- Safety from terrorism
- Transportation safety*
- Wellbeing measures (including disease)
- Safety for groups (ladies, travelers of color and LGBTQ+ travelers)
Eminently, Canada positioned first in all sub-categories included as a component of this year’s positioning. Click here to see the top 10 countries according to each sub-category.
*BHTP notes that transportation safety includes “countries with either advanced street and transportation systems (all over yet Iceland) or a restricted need to travel far (Iceland).”
BHTP rankings by age and income
BHTP also notes that survey respondents for the 2023-2024 version of these rankings “had ridiculously various perceptions of the world’s safest countries relying upon their age and income.”
Still, generally speaking, Canada stayed in the top four safest countries for travel according to these sub-groups.
In comparison to the general rankings, the accompanying indicates how Canada’s place in BHTP’s rankings would have contrasted whenever presented based on the responses from specific groups of respondents.
Millennials
Among Millennials who responded to BHTP’s survey, Canada positioned fourth in generally speaking travel safety behind Norway, Switzerland and the Unified Kingdom (UK).
Gen Z
Among members of Gen Z who responded to BHTP’s survey, Canada stayed number one in by and large travel safety.
Respondents with a household income more than $200,000
Among BHTP survey respondents who fell into this household income category, Canada positioned second in general travel safety behind just Portugal.
Respondents spending more than $25,000 each year on travel
Among BHTP survey respondents who fell into this travel spending category, Canada positioned sixth in general travel safety behind the Netherlands, Hungary, the UK, the Bahamas and Portugal.
“Mature” survey respondents
Albeit the report does not specify the age that qualifies respondents as “mature”, BHTP survey respondents who fell into this age group positioned Canada as the 10th safest country for travel generally speaking. For this group of respondents, Canada positioned behind:
- Iceland
- South Korea
- Sweden
- Japan
- Denmark
- Norway
- New Zealand
- Ireland
Parents
For parents who responded to BHTP’s survey, Canada stayed number one in generally speaking travel safety.