Recent survey regarding the world’s most dangerous places by forbes.com has thrown up relatively few surprises. The top 10 consists of countries renowned for being impoverished by war, deep in geopolitical turmoil and the centres of territorial disputes. The first 5 are Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Haiti and Pakistan. Though the reasons for these countries being dangerous are basically the same, they do differ slightly and potential visitors should be aware of this.
Somalia, carrying the label of the world’s most dangerous place, is a country torn by wars over drug and weapon trafficking rights. The death rate is extraordinarily high yet only slightly higher than in second-placed Iraq where military action has created a huge belt of danger and unstability between Baghdad and Tikrit. The bronze medal of danger goes to Afghanistan, where continued support for the Taliban, although officially crushed in 2001, and al’quaeda continues to create mayhem. Just off the podium is Haiti, the western hemisphere’s poorest country where civil unrest and readily available firearms are amongst the unpleasantries. The geopolitical turmoil between the Shia and Sunni Muslim communities has helped Pakistan to acquire the fifth place in the danger league. Sudan, Congo, Lebanon, Zimbabwe and the Palestinian territories make up the top ten.
Nevertheless, this does not mean that destinations which we consider to be super safe do not belong to the danger league. A perfect example is Canada, the North American paradise for standard of living, yet littered with danger. Racoons and bats freely transmit rabies, bush and forest fires are commonplace, British Colombia is an active earthquake zone and its neighbour Alberta is also famous for deadly avalanches. Furthermore, Canada’s 401 highway is one of the deadliest stretches of road on the planet and murders and firearm crimes are more common in big cities such as Toronto than the Canadians let on.
