The six countries were Portugal, Malaysia, Costa Rica, Ireland, Vietnam and Uruguay. The list appeared in a Travel + Leisure article published May 27, 2025, describing a selection based on International Living’s 2025 Global Retirement Index and the Global Peace Index. It was not presented as a ranked list, and it does not establish that every retiree would be safer in any of these countries than in the United States.
Which countries were named?
Travel + Leisure reported the following positions for the two indexes used in its account of the 2025 selection. The Global Peace Index (GPI) measures country-level peacefulness; International Living’s Global Retirement Index assesses retirement destinations. Their positions are not a single combined score, and the six-country selection was not ordered from safest to least safe.
| Country | 2025 Global Peace Index position reported by Travel + Leisure | 2025 International Living Global Retirement Index position reported by Travel + Leisure |
|---|---|---|
| Portugal | 7 | 2 |
| Malaysia | 10 | 7 |
| Costa Rica | 38 | 3 |
| Ireland | 2 | 15 |
| Vietnam | 41 | 16 |
| Uruguay | 52 | 14 |
These are positions Travel + Leisure reported for the 2025 list, not newly recalculated standings. A high position in one index does not mean that country ranked first overall in the selection: the indexes have different purposes, and Travel + Leisure said the final list was not ranked. (Travel + Leisure, May 27, 2025)
What does “safer than the U.S.” mean here?
The headline describes an index-based selection, not a guarantee about an individual’s safety. Travel + Leisure reported that the United States ranked No. 132 in the 2024 Global Peace Index. That is a 2024 GPI position cited in its 2025 article—not a U.S. position for the 2025 or 2026 edition.
#1 Best Overall
The Institute for Economics & Peace’s 2025 GPI covers 163 independent states and territories and uses 23 qualitative and quantitative indicators across three domains: societal safety and security, ongoing domestic and international conflict, and militarisation. Those measures describe conditions at a national level; they are not a retiree-specific safety rating or a direct measure of crime risk in a particular neighborhood. (Institute for Economics & Peace, Global Peace Index 2025)
What the rankings can—and cannot—tell a retiree
What they indicate
- The 2025 selection brought together a retirement-oriented index and a country-level peace index, as described by Travel + Leisure.
- The GPI offers a way to compare national peacefulness using its defined indicators and domains.
- International Living’s retirement index addresses retirement-destination considerations beyond peacefulness.
What they do not establish
- They do not predict the risks a particular person will face in a specific city, neighborhood, home or daily routine.
- They do not prove that moving abroad will make an individual retiree safer or happier.
- They do not provide a complete, directly comparable assessment of current visa eligibility, taxes, healthcare access or local security across all six destinations.
Travel + Leisure also included comments from residents of some destinations. Such accounts can convey personal experience, but they are anecdotes—not representative crime statistics or proof of a countrywide safety level.
Do not confuse this with International Living’s 2026 retirement index
International Living’s separate 2026 Global Retirement Index page, updated December 1, 2025, lists Greece at No. 1, Panama at No. 2, Costa Rica at No. 3, Portugal at No. 4 and Malaysia at No. 10. Those are positions in a later retirement-index edition, not an updated version of the 2025 safety selection and not comparable to its 2025 GPI figures. (International Living, Best Places to Retire in 2026)
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to use the list when planning a retirement abroad
Treat the selection as a starting point for research, not a personal safety recommendation. For any country that interests you, investigate the factors that indexes cannot resolve for your circumstances:
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- Location: Compare the particular cities and neighborhoods you might live in, rather than relying on a national position alone.
- Residency: Check current visa and long-term residency rules for your citizenship and circumstances.
- Healthcare: Confirm what care is accessible, what coverage is required and what it may cost.
- Finances: Assess taxes, living costs, income arrangements and currency exposure for your situation.
- Day-to-day fit: Consider language, community, housing and the routines you expect to maintain.
These questions require destination-specific, current information. The index positions alone do not answer them or determine which country is the safest choice for a particular retiree.
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