Want to Move Abroad? How to Choose the Safest Location for You and Your Family

Ensuring the safety and security of you and your family is critical when deciding on a new country in which to move.

Everyone has different levels of risk tolerance and standards when it comes to safety and feeling secure. What feels safe to one person, may not to another.

What might feel safe for you as an individual adult may not appeal to families with young children.

For example, my husband and I have lived and traveled to dozens of countries all over the world with a wide range of safety and crime levels. However, when we added three young children to the mix, we assessed risk factors much differently, and our list of viable candidate countries was different from when we were solo traveling.

Assessing for yourself, and contemplating your own degree of comfort given your unique circumstances, is important.

Therefore, it is critical to do some research and educate yourself about the various areas that contribute to a particular location or country feeling safe and stable.

When people contemplate the safety in a location, they almost always think exclusively of crime rates. And while that is certainly an important factor, there are also other topics to consider.

These other factors can have a significant impact on the safety and security of a country as well, and be just as important when determining the safety of your new home.

Here are the main factors to investigate in order to understand the overall safety of a country…

• Crime Rates: Overall crime rates are usually calculated by dividing the overall number of crimes (violent/non-violent) by the total population. The result is then multiplied by 100,000. Crime rates vary greatly from country to country and even city to city. They can be influenced by many factors, such as unemployment, poverty, gun laws and police enforcement.

• Economic Stability: Economic stability is made up of factors that allow people the resources to live a healthy and secure life. Things to consider that influence this are employment rates, workers rights, inflation, affordable housing, childcare, and transportation.

• Political Stability: Political stability is marked by consistent institutions and policies that are committed to upholding the rule of law and minimizing corruption.

• Quality Healthcare: A well-functioning and stable healthcare infrastructure of a country is measured by the ability to provide healthcare to a population’s needs, protecting the population against threats to its health, and providing equitable access to quality health care.

A FEW ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS…

Make sure you take an objective and holistic look at all the factors that relate to safety and security in a given country and location. Pay attention
to how both people and the media can inflate, misrepresent, or sensationalize the safety or circumstances of a country.

Talking to locals and expats is an important step in evaluating the safety of a region. There can be a recent flux in a country’s economy or a current crime story that is inaccurately representing the overall or longstanding safety of a country.

Finally, many countries are large and the safety, crime, and security can vary widely in a given country. Be sure to pay attention to regional safety and the diversity of security across a given country. Statistics that might be true for one city may not be true in a different city in the same country.

STEPS TO TAKE…

1. Research government and state-department advisories, as well as statistics about crime and crime rates in a given location. Check out the crime rate comparison function on www.numbeo.com.
2. Research, explore, and ask questions on expatriate and local forums.
3. Research economic health indexes across countries. Be aware of the current economics of a location, including topics such as housing, inflation, and unemployment.
4. Research the politics of a country. Be aware of the stability of the political institutions, and if they uphold the rule of law. Understand if there is civil unrest, political upheaval, or sudden changes in leadership.
5. Research healthcare including a country’s respect for patients’ rights, access to care for the general population, as well as costs associated with quality care.
6. Fill out the worksheet below to compare and contrast information on safety.

Choosing Your Perfect Country to Move Abroad

Whether you want to move abroad for a career, to study, for love, retirement, or to raise your family, this engaging, easy to follow roadmap will help you find the perfect location to start your new life.

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