The world's most dangerous destinations

The world’s largest medical and travel security services firm, SOS International, has released a map of the most dangerous countries in the world.

The new map designed to alert travelers to the level of risk they face when visiting destinations worldwide identifies Syria, Afghanistan, Yemen and Timbuktu in Mali as the most dangerous destinations in the world.

Meanwhile, the safest countries in the world are Norway, Finland, Sweden and Iceland, according to the research.

Beyond these war-torn destinations, hot spots favoured by tourists such as Mexico, Colombia, Pakistan and Egypt have also ranked as "high risk" in the new findings. The countries deemed to have an insignificant risk rating are Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Switzerland, Slovenia and Denmark.

Pakistan has been named among highly risky countries for travel.  The map identifies countries which are highly risky to travel to and rates the level of risk as ‘extreme’, ‘high’, ‘medium’, ‘low’, or ‘insignificant.



The map shows Pakistan among high risk countries highlighted in red.“Protests are frequently violent and may target or disrupt foreigners; they may be exacerbated by governance issues, including security or law and order capacity," the map reads for Pakistan.

PHOTO: SOS International

Parts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa bordering FATA and Balochistan are among extremely high risk regions on the map. Reasons cited for the region being extremely risky are lack of "government control and law and order" and serious threat of violent attacks by armed groups targeting foreigners and international assignees. Further, "government and transport services are barely functional," the map reads.

Travel security risk ratings by International SOS and Control Risks are based on the current threat posed to travelers and international assignees by political violence (including terrorism, insurgency, politically motivated unrest and war), social unrest (including sectarian, communal and ethnic violence) as well as violent and petty crime, according to the website.

Other factors, such as the “robustness of the transport infrastructure, the state of industrial relations, the effectiveness of the security and emergency services and the country’s susceptibility to natural disasters are also considered where they are of sufficient magnitude to impact the overall risk environment for travelers.”



Earlier, Pakistan was declared the fourth most dangerous country in the world, according to the Global Travel and Tourism Report by the World Economic Forum.

The report, ranking countries on ‘Safety and Security,’ gave Pakistan a score of 3.04, while Finland, the safest country in the world, had a score of 6.7. The report found that the safest countries were in Europe. The bottom of the list was dominated by countries in Latin America, Africa, Asia and the Middle East.