Traveling alone can be a challenge, especially if the traveler is a woman, and therefore the safest countries to visit even without travel companions have been compiled, writes the travel portal EnjoyTravel.
20 safest countries in the world for women traveling alone are compiled using 8 criteria: crime and safety index, the proportion of women experiencing violence, the number of women murdered, domestic violence legislation, the proportion of women feeling safe on the street at night, attitudes towards violence against for women, public transport and taxi safety, as well as the Global Gender Gap Report. The maximum number of points a country could get is 60.
Latvia ranks 19th with 46 points. One of the reasons why Latvia has not been able to climb higher is the high proportion of women who have experienced violence: 32% of the population of Latvia has encountered some form of violence. However, more than half of women outside the house feel safe even at night, and Latvia’s safety index is more than 60 points out of 100.
Latvia is one of the greenest countries in Europe, and
the crime index is below 38 points, which ranks Latvia among the safest countries in the world.
Estonia ranks 15th with 49 points, while Lithuania ranks 13th with 49 points.
The top three are Slovenia, Taiwan, and Oman. Slovenia is one of the few countries where International Women’s Day is an official holiday, and almost 80% of women feel safe even outside their homes at night. Slovenian legislation is also favorable to women. In Taiwan, 40% of the seats in the parliament are held by women, and the legislation is designed in such a way that domestic violence is particularly severely punished.
The first place on the list is surprising – Oman. However, this country has the lowest number of women murdered and the overall crime rate is also low. Women are encouraged to pursue higher education and the government holds campaigns to draw attention to women’s rights. At the same time, it should be remembered that Oman is an Islamic country, and also, for example, expressions of freedom of speech may be limited.