Where would you be the safest if World War 3 broke out tomorrow? Perhaps it’s a grim subject, but safety and distance from world conflict can be a motivating factor in your choice to expatriate. At the very least, conflict around the world can weigh heavy on the soul, and it’s nice to know there are some places still left in the world where you might be left in peace. Thus, we’ve assembled a list of the 10 best places to live if you want to escape world conflict.
10. Switzerland
Switzerland’s long history of neutrality and its tucked away location among the valleys of the Alps still make it a safe bet, even despite having a high number of bordering nations. It helps that neighboring Austria is also considered a neutral nation.
9. Costa Rica
Costa Rica has a stable democracy, a disbanded military and a national policy of neutrality. It also ranks highly on the Global Peace Index, Happy Planet Index, and Life Satisfaction Index. Although it sits in the middle of a tumultuous region, there are far worse places to sit in peace as the world goes down in flames all around.
8. Papua New Guinea
There are regions of Papua New Guinea that are still being discovered for the first time. The canopy covered, mountainous nation contains some of the most isolated places in the world. Tuck yourself away in a nook here and it may be one of the few places left where you can completely insulate yourself from the outside world.
7. Canada
Canada is the second largest nation in the world, yet it only shares a land border with one other country– the U.S.A.– and it is a peaceful border. That means there is a great expanse to escape to, if need be. Furthermore, Canada has few world enemies, ranks consistently high on the Global Peace Index, and is relatively homogeneous.
6. Seychelles
Aside from being safely isolated from the rest of the world in the middle of the Indian Ocean, this beautiful island nation is a great place to forget about your worries. Isolation is the key here. And conflict is as transparent as the water.
5. Finland
Finland has a long history of desiring to stay out of international conflicts, is recognized as neutral and always ranks in the top 10 of the Global Peace Index. It’s northerly location also typically means the remote areas of this country are a perfect place to disappear.
4. Tuvalu
Isolated in the middle of Micronesia, Tuvalu is among the safest and most remote places in the world. It is the third least populated country on Earth, and the forth smallest. There are only a few places more distant from the world’s strife than Tuvalu.
3. Iceland
Iceland, of course, has no borders, has remote locations, is stable as a country and has virtually no world enemies. Its people are happy and the nation always ranks highly on the Global Peace Index. If world conflict erupts, Iceland is one of the few stable nations in the world unlikely to get caught up in the middle.
2. Bhutan
Landlocked among the Himalaya mountains, Bhutan is one of the most isolated nations in the world. It also showcases one of the most stable balances in the world between moderization and retention of ancient culture. Its religious population believes in peaceful resolution to all conflict, and although it sits in a troubled region, it remains protected by its geography.
1. New Zealand
New Zealand might be the most isolated and expansive fully developed nation in the world. It shares no borders, sits relatively distant from any other nation, has no real national enemies, has a safe democracy and a diverse landscape with many remote places to hide away within. Furthermore, it ranked #1 on the Global Peace Index in 2009.
I think that there are no safe places but there are safer places. I would pick either Prince Edward Island or the Highlands of Scotland since England has become insignificant in the world.
All of these places except for Tuvalu which I had never heard of are on my list to visit! Great post!
Seychelles are beautiful but I think Mauritius deserves a spot
Regarding Costa Rica, what are you thinking of???
You state that it has a “disbanded military” and is “in the middle of a tumultuous region.” That’s not a good combination!! Have your forgotten Kuwait? Costa Rica sounds similar to Kuwait: No military, is near unstable countries. Like Kuwait, if enough money is there (American), I could picture neighboring countries invading Costa Rica in a free-for-all grabbing all they could get. Not having a military is like not having a police force – it’s dumb!!
I could be wrong and I have no idea where your from but from personal experience… kuwait is very safe with a very active military
I have spent a lot of time there and i feel safer there than in any other country i have been to(even USA). “Locals” are wonderful, friendly and ready to help you if you they can!
totally great place and totally looking forward to going back this year!!
As for Costa Rica… definitely cant say the same as i did for kuwait as Costa Rica but I did love it there and I did feel safe … with all of the armed guards
***As for Costa Rica… definitely cant say the same as i did for kuwait***
Regarding Canada; “only sharing a border with the USA” is nerve-wracking.
Whatever Lola wants, Lola gets. So don’t go telling Lola that we are worth anything. Shush
Canada is terribly cold and expensive and uh, the food is bad, ya, that’s it. The food is bad.
I would like to say that I do appreciate your Expatify series of various rankings of expat destinations and do enjoy visiting your sites. Thanks for making this info easily accessible to us Americans looking elsewhere.
Well, instead of investing in stupid wars and in armies, countries as Costa Rica invest in education and making the country to be one of the top technologies providers and a low unemployed rate .. is that dumb? I wonder how someone can compare Costa Rica to Kuwait.. Costa Rica does not have oil… who will invade it? Oh yes.. some one who thinks war is the solution for the oil or religions problems, some one with out education and brains…
Anyone notice the majority of the refuge areas are isolated tropical islands where it’s to beautiful to do anything but kick back with a tall beverage or it’s too friggin’ cold to go outside and fight anybody?
Australia is going to annex new zealand soon. They have no military and most of their population lives here anyway so it makes sense to assume New Zealand as our seventh state.
I agree with all the above countries except Bhutan. Bhutan is the one which oppressed and depressed their people. Bhutanese people are forced to leave their country and had to leave in another country Nepal as a host country. Because of Bhutanese government, they are spending miserable life in a refugee camp for more than 18 years. So how Bhutan came in second position as a best place to live???? Waiting for answer. Thankyou!!!!!!
I thought greenland would have being in the list as u never hear or anything bad there, as for safest place to be during world war 3 its got to be the south pole lol
@ janny
the food is bad? really? Canada is a population of immigrants.. the food in Canada is literally a conglomeration of all world foods. I don’t see how such a diverse choice in cuisine could possibly be bad.
Agreed that it is not a great place for escaping world conflict though. Canada relies on the US for 80% of its trade. If the US is in world conflict, Canada is pretty much forced to be involved.
@janny
the food is bad… hmm…. do you just not like food? Because Canada has a very large variety of immigrants and that is basically what you’ll find in food choice. Asian, south american, european, american….etc. pretty much a lot of everything. Where did you go when you visited Canada? Iqaluit?
And being boarded with the states makes me feel safe.
@Sam – I think janny was kidding and was trying to keep us away from Canada.
Kind of like Oregon here in the U.S. has postcards, come visit us as you are passing through, or visit us during the non rainy season (which is never)
I do believe that Janny was being a tad sarcastic.
Jessy,
For the record:
1)”England” is far from insignificant, it is STILL one of the Worlds main players
2) Scotland isn’t in England, it’s a country in it’s own right and is part of the UK or Great Britain as is England.
AYSTRALIA I THINK AHAS THE MOST BENEFITS IN THE ABOVE RESPECT AS IT IS AN ISLAND AWAY FROM MOST OF ALL WARING COUNTRIES AND PESTULENT AND SICKNESS!! iT IS STILL IN PRESTINE CONDITION WITH ITS BEAUTIFUL CORAL AND SEA FOOD!!
@Dale. Are you serious?? You can shove your stuck up pussy australian pride up your ass. New Zealand is it’s own nation & we’re proud of it. Im angry that’s it’s on this list to begin with. Stop encouraging immigrants to migrate there. THERE ARE ENOUGH OF THEM AS IT IS. There are too many overstayers who dont even give a crap about our land. If it were up to me i’d kick every last fxcker out. New Zealand is Maori land & this is the truth. If you can’t handle the truth the stay the hell away from our land.
I lived in Canada for 10 years and vote it #1, if you’re from the US and would like some similar quality of life.
I live about 20 minutes away from emerald lake, the lake in the picture for canada. If anyone is in Canada try to make it up to the yukon, its a beautiful place.
Ha ha! That picture for Finland is not even Finland!!! It is true, though that it is pretty safe there. Everything is so predictable that people just lose any desire to live.
Download “Once were Warriors” and then explain how NZ is #1.
Blackduck Minnesota
Tuvalu’s going to be underwater in a few years, due to Global Warming. Costa Rica does sound idyllic, but with a disbanded military and unstable neighbors… NZ & Oz are *great* places but they don’t like Yanks.
An island with some height (since the oceans are rising) sounds the best to me.
I am from England and living in Brasil.
I am thinking of moving to Canada but all I hear is how cold it is.
So maybe I will try the Cayman islands.
What do you think?
Trust me, Canada is not as cold as you think. Plus, you get used to it as time goes by. :p
Well… maybe its pretty cold. In Southern Ontario right now it is -12C… but the cold is worth it!
@Cofdreams seriously tragic event in mauritious beginning of january here in ireland as a semi-public figure was murdered on her honeymoon by hotel staff. I know it does not reflect the whole island, but for me this place is ruined.
Woah MaoriGirl, calm down. Dale is clearly just being ignorant and what he said is laughable, for a start our SAS is one of the most respected armed forces in the world. No need to rage. And to everyone else, I promise the rest of the people here in New Zealand are much nicer then MaoriGirl there.
If u havent travelled the world you would think like most of you, how can australia, bieng hit by floods already, made enemies already, its on the target list so is canada, u.k, france…..botswana would be much safer from man made killing instruments would only worry if you dip skin naked, remotes parts of china so is mozambique.
Iceland? Seriously? Besides the multiple massive NATO bases on the island, “primary target” status by the Russians and extensive submarine warfare in its waters, yeah, great place to wait out nuclear winter.
Two words: Buenos Aires.
Tuvalu will be submerged in the next few decades if I
understand this global-warming thing correctly.
No thanx – I think I will stuck in my RIYADH <3
@MaoriGirl – Maori migrated here to NZ also…
@TomTom – well said.
As a NZ’er I find Dale’s comment amusing, because there’s an element of truth in the ‘immigrant’ statement. However much as they’d love to annex lil’ ol’ NZ, it won’t happen
Finland did not fare so well during WW II & is on Russian border…
Iceland could easliy become a military base; look at Pacific Is during WW II.
Would Switzerland be safe from Cherbobyl-type clouds after WW III? I doubt it. Plus how easily would imported food get in there?
dale what are you thinking! nz will never ever be oz’s seventh state. To be fair nz and oz do not get along so we are most likely to be at war with oz than any other country
Umm.. Costa Rica is about to be taken over by a drug cartel. They have no army to protect themselves. You may want to rethink living there..
I stumbled this article and instantly thought New Zealand is going to be number one. I was right.
New Zealand and Antartica (I think) are the only land masses on earth where there are no snakes (BONUS POINTS)
The only bad thing I’d have to say about New Zealand is that the entire country is sitting on top of a fault line is well overdue for some of that and every once and awhile some volcano blows its load. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taupo_Volcano#The_Taupo_Eruption)
And as everyone else said, ignore MaoriGirl (meow meow meow) and we do like yanks, as long as they bring their credit cards…
Once Were Warriors is just a movie lol
and yes Maori did migrate to NZ but they were the 1st to discover NZ than anybody else.
Interesting reading in many ways but one thing hit me the most and that was a comment i saw ;
“Nathan Paren says:
February 4, 2011 at 1:24 am
Iceland? Seriously? Besides the multiple massive NATO bases on the island, “primary target” status by the Russians and extensive submarine warfare in its waters, yeah, great place to wait out nuclear winter.”
Ok, being from Iceland i would like to point out that there have not been multiple massive nato bases here ever, but we had one,not so massive in Keflavik until a few years ago. Since then there has been none, but NATO forces come here to practise and keep up some airspace lookouts once in a while.
When that happens we are talking about 3 to 5 jets and the crews that go with that.
Joe: If USA stops being a drug addict country, then the south America countries wouldn’t have drug cartel.. and by the way, Costa Rica does not have drug cartel, it is Mexican cartel using the maritime areas as bridge to US. and just in case, Costa Rica is not part of Mexico.. if case you don’t know where Costa Rica is in the global map.
I’ve been to Switzerland and Canada, too cold. As well some others would be too cold New Zealand, Bhutan, Finland, Iceland.
And as we are living a life on oil, when that stops I’m not chopping wood to stay warn half the year, been there done that, it sucks. Snow blows, any any color, yellow, brown, black(ice) or newly fallen white. It’s pretty on a card, cold in reality.
Papa New Guinea, umm which half? I ain’t muslim they are. And Costa Rica? si’ por no? no gracias, between Nicaragua and Panama in a 3rd world country,with an ongoing drug war? I ain’t gonna be the gringo to go to when the shit hits the fan.
The Seychelles Islands and Tuvalu I actually looked into moving and living in those places but I’m not independently wealthy nor do I wish to live like Tom,”Castaways”, hellooooo
So where else? Where I am, in the pacific but a little more connected for information sake. And the MAIN thing you will need to survive what’s about to unfold, are clean water,(rain forest), not to worry about heat, (80* most days), Food, growing 365 days a year, because you like to eat all year. Fresh off the tree fruits and organic veggie gardens, not GMO Safeway crap. And clean air. The rest is gravy.And I’d love to tell you where this is but I don’t want it on this list to be inundated by the rest of the utopia seekers.
I’ve been to Switzerland and Canada, too cold. As well some others would be too cold New Zealand, Bhutan, Finland, Iceland.
And as we are living a life on oil, when that stops I’m not chopping wood to stay warn half the year, been there done that, it sucks. Snow blows, any any color, yellow, brown, black(ice) or newly fallen white. It’s pretty on a card, cold in reality.
A big part of canada is almost 100% powered by hydroelectricity now days. Cutting Wood and Oil is practice that the eastern part of canada havent used in 100 years? Unless you really wanna live, very, very far from the city, but i mean very far because that place is covered with pillons lol.
Canada populated area is also only cold during the winter really. When i went during the winter it can drop to -40 celcius with wind, during summer it can go up to +40 celcius with humidity.
punapeter, would love to talk more with you off list some time. My wife has been trying to talk me into a South American country, but I will be honest in that the thought of moving my wife and 6 kids to a country in South America does not give me a warm fuzzy feeling.
I can not believe Canada is number 7. I don’t know about you but if I was escaping from my Country I would want to make money not sit on a beach and get a tan. I think allot of those countries I would be living in poverty b/c there would be no jobs.
Shhhhh guys! Stop saying Canada’s not cold. It totally is. >_> Why check out that minus 2 degrees celsius… <_<
actually, Switzerland would survive a nuclear war because they are legally required to live near a bomb/fallout shelter that is stocked. much better than the US where you’re a nutcase if you have a shelter…
New Zealand is number one because we are no threat to anyone… no one would gain anything by attacking us or going to war with us.
Australia is not up there because they are bigger and do have an army, air force and navy. they are very influencial in the current war and countries who go to war with them would control alot more. thats when NZ becomes in trouble and a target. and only then would we b in trouble but that wouldnt happen. and just look at their history with the japs. Point made?
NZ rules!
Well hello there….
I actually am from Costa Rica…its true, we have some problematic neighbors here, but we have no military…which means we don’t enter armed conflicts.
Lets clear up some doubt here.
1.We don’t have drug cartels…we have problems with drugs because immigrants have been using us as a bridge between South America and the States.
2. We are NOT an island….and although we have wome beautiful beaches, we also have cities, and rainforests. Here we can proudly say that the biodiversity that exists here, is larger than that of the whole North America combined.
3. We have no oil, no natural gas. We use clean energy for the most part, so unless people want to start stealing air, I dont think we’ll be invaded anytime soon.
4. As for the comments refering to us as a third world country , you might want to review the statistics..its true, we are not the wealthiest country. However, we have some of the best education indexes in the world…Better than the USA’s actually…( see, no military means the gun money goes to books). Education, medical availability, access to clean water are amongst the indicators used in economics to determine the “wealth” of a country.
5. And yes, we are ranked very very highly in Happiness, Peace and Life Satisfaction…we are very peaceful in everything we do, especially in our everyday lives.
Enough said, we believe most of you “americans” ( no, you don’t own the whole continent) dont really value what we have. P.S, let me remind you that world conflict does NOT happen here…so really who’s to blame for whats going on now??