New Zealand fourth safest country in world for women

New Zealand has been ranked the fourth safest country in the world for women. Photo / 123rf

New Zealand has been hailed as the fourth safest country in the world for women, according to the February 2018 Global Wealth Migration Review.

Australia came in as the safest country in the world for women, with Malta and Iceland also ranking in the top three.

The least safe countries in the world for a woman in 2017 include Somalia, Sudan, Iraq and Syria.

Israel pipped the US by one placing, with the Middle-Eastern country coming in as the eighth safest country for women in the world.

The rankings are based on the percentage of each nation's female population that has been a victim of serious crimes over the past year.

Crimes considered in the study were rape, slavery of women, trafficking of women and general assaults on women such as physical assaults and acid attacks.

Countries with unreliable crime statistics were excluded from the top 10.

The report noted a correlation between historic wealth growth and women's safety levels.

"Woman safety is one of the best ways to gauge a nation's long-term wealth-growth potential, with a correlation of 92 per cent between historic wealth growth and woman safety levels.

"This means that wealth growth is boosted by strong levels of woman safety in a country.

"Most of the countries in our top 10 are also popular destinations for migrating HNWIs [High-net-worth individuals].

"Also, most of them have experienced strong wealth growth over the past 10-20 years."

Top 10 safest countries for women:

1. Australia
2. Malta
3. Iceland
4. New Zealand
5. Canada
6. Poland
7. Monaco
8. Israel
9. United States
10. South Korea

Safest Countries for Women by Region:

Europe: Malta, Poland, Monaco, Iceland
Asia Pacific: Australia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Japan, South Korea
Middle East: Israel, UAE
Africa: Mauritius, Botswana, Namibia
Americas: USA, Canada