New Report Ranks South Africa As World’s Most Dangerous Country For Women Travelers

A new Women’s Danger Index which ranks the world’s most dangerous countries for women traveling alone has ranked South Africa as the world’s most dangerous country for women on solo trips.

The Southern Africa country is notorious for high levels of crime and has overtime earned a reputation as a dangerous destination. Numerous reports including 2018 Global Peace Index by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) have shown that the Sub-Saharan state is one of the most violent and dangerous places on earth.

Data compiled by the UN in 2015 also shows that South Africa had the fifth-highest murder rate in the world.

Foreign nationals are mostly targeted by their accusers for allegedly taking jobs from locals.

Also, SA has the highest femicide rate in the world, a level which is five times higher than the average global rate. Reports indicate that a woman is killed every eight hours.

Numerous incidents of sexual assault and other violence against women in South Africa have been reported, the majority of which takes place in townships as well as poor rural areas.

Normally, women traveling in South Africa are cautioned not to hike, drive, walk, or move about alone and to generally behave conservatively. These precautions are commonly published in most South African travel blogs.

“While traveling as a couple we’ve experienced some uncomfortable situations and we’ve heard horror stories from many solo female travelers,” says Lyric Fergusson, a journalist and a co-author of the report. “Rather than relying on hearsay and anecdotes, we thought it would be good to know which countries are the worst and safest based on hard facts.”

Brazil, Russia, Mexico, Iran, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Morocco, India, and Thailand appeared in the top 10 list respectively.

Authors of the report; Asher and Lyric Fergusson ranked 50 countries with the most international tourists. They used the following eight factors: street safety for women, non-partner sexual violence, legal discrimination, intentional homicide of women, intimate partner violence, global gender gap, gender inequality index and violence against women attitudes.

Information gathered was compiled using different sources including the 2018 Gallup World Poll and Equal Measures 2030’s Gender Advocates Data Hub.

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