Why is Bosnia safer than New Zealand?

Bosnian workers and trade union activists face riot police during a protest, in Sarajevo. Photo / Getty Images

New Zealand is a more dangerous place to be than Bosnia/Herzegovina, Panama and even Bangladesh.

This is according to a new study conducted by ValuePenguin, a New York consultancy firm, which has found New Zealand to be the 41st safest country in the world.

Seven "data points" - life expectancy, assaults, thefts, traffic deaths, police to population ratio, carbon dioxide emissions and population - from 107 countries were compared for the study.

"These seven were chosen because they were the most available for as many countries as we could fairly include in the study," authors of the report said.

"We believe that a country that is open and up to date with its data is more likely to be safe than a country that isn't."

Switzerland was the safest country, averaging just seven violent crime per 100,000 people and had scored 37 (the lower the better) for safety.

Singapore, with 42 points was in second place, followed by Spain, Japan and Cyprus.

The study found New Zealand had 839 assaults per 100,000 people - two and a half times more than Australia's 306 - and scored 112 for safety.

Swaziland was the most dangerous country to be in the world.

For the full list: http://www.valuepenguin.com/2015/07/safest-countries-world