Safest countries to visit in 2020

2019 is almost over and with just a week over a month remaining for 2020 to begin, a travel security services company named International SOS published an annual Travel Risk Map for those who are already planning a holiday for the next year and wondering which countries are the safest.

The colour coordinated map is based on medical and travel security risks, including infectious diseases and political violence, with five categories ranging from "insignificant" to "extreme" risk.

In its predictions for 2020, the safest countries to travel to Denmark, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Slovenia, Luxembourg and Switzerland – heavily concentrated in the northern hemisphere.

The places deemed most dangerous are more widely scattered across the globe and include Afghanistan, Central African Republic (CAR), Somalia and Syria.

There are, however, some countries that do not fit into just one category and are therefore given a mixed rating. India is an example of such countries with mixed ratings where Bihar, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh are listed as high risk but rest of India is listed as medium risk.

Bangladesh, on the other hand, was listed as a medium risk country on the map but the eastern regions surrounding Bangladesh have been listed as high risk – Assam, Nagaland, Manipur and Tripura have been listed as such.

The UK, US, Canada, Australia, China and much of Europe was listed as low risk and much of Africa has been deemed medium and high risk.