As travellers begin planning their trips for 2023, an American insurance company has released its annual listing of safest destinations to travel to next year. European nations take the top three slots, with the Netherlands leading the way.

The Netherlands, Denmark and Iceland have been ranked as the top three safest countries to visit in 2023, says the latest ranking of safe places to travel to, released by Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection, an American insurance firm.

BHTP determined the 15 safest countries and cities around the world to visit for next year using data surrounding weather emergencies, terrorism, health measures and the safety of traditionally underrepresented groups, as well as data from September’s State of Travel Insurance survey.

As in the past years, many of the safest countries to visit next year are located in Scandinavia and the rest of Europe, with only four other countries located outside of Europe: Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates. However, the list of the 15 safest cities offer a wider geographic spread, with cities like Singapore, Seoul and Tokyo also making it to the top 15.

According to BHTP 2023 listing, the world’s safest countries, in descending ranked order, are the Netherlands, Denmark, Iceland, Australia, Norway, Canada, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, New Zealand, Spain, Ireland, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and Belgium.

The world’s safest cities to visit, in descending ranked order, are as follows: Reykjavik, Copenhagen, Montreal, Amsterdam, Seoul, Singapore, Tokyo, Berlin, London, Sydney, Barcelona, Honolulu, Rome, Dubai, and Paris.

According to a press statement, each year, regardless of what’s going on in the world, BHTP produces its list of the safest places to travel. “And over the years, the US consumers have seen travel threats from A as in Hurricane Andrew to Z, as in Zika virus impact their travel plans and their perception of travel safety, and influence where they travel.

The press statement goes on to add that a couple of years ago it was the pandemic. Then it was staff and equipment shortages. Now it’s inflation and global warming. “Assuming we can clear these final hurdles, it’ll be all systems go for travel, and the only thing we will have to worry about is which travel insurance plan we want to protect our flights and cruises,” says the press statement.

BHTP says that after years of doing this, it is clear that travellers think that Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Sweden, Iceland, and Canada are pretty safe countries, and their perceptions are reinforced by other measurements. However, there have been changes in the rankings, within these countries. While Australia crept up to fourth overall from sixth, New Zealand fell from second to 10th, Canada dropped from third to sixth, and Ireland fell from eighth to 12th.

Some of the biggest fallers were Japan, down from fifth to 19th, Costa Rica, down from 15th to 31st and Brazil down to 42nd from 25th.

BHTP says that it has a long history of asking travellers where they are going, why they are travelling, and what constitutes a safe destination to them. It conducted the first such survey in 2016 and has been doing studies ever since.