Muslim-majority countries and cities are among the safest in the world, according to the website Numbeo.

Qatar, fresh from successfully hosting the World Cup, continues its reign as the top-ranked safest country in the world for the fifth consecutive year.

The UAE was second, with Oman in fifth place, behind Taiwan and the Isle of Man. Bahrain also made the top ten.  

A total of 142 countries are covered by the Numbeo Safety Index by Country 2023.

According to the website, six out of ten cities dubbed the safest in the world are Muslim-majority. Abu Dhabi is number one, followed closely by Doha.  

UAE cities Ajman, Sharjah and Dubai make the other Muslim-majority cities in the top ten, including the Turkish city Eskisehir.

Numbeo's index is a crowd-sourced collection of data that considers various aspects of daily life, such as housing, healthcare, transport, and crime.

Most Muslim countries beat France

Other Muslim-majority countries to rank high in the poll include Saudi Arabia (12), Brunei (26), Azerbaijan (33), Kuwait (36) and Uzbekistan (38), while Turkey (51) comes just outside the top 50.

France, often criticised for fomenting Islamophobia, appears to be one of the least safe countries in the world, languishing outside the top 100 at 107th place.

Out of the 42 European countries ranked, France was placed 41st, making it the second-least safe country in the continent after Belarus.

The UK (77), the US (88) and Sweden (85) come behind Iraq (72).

Not all Muslim countries did well though. Amongst the bottom ten are countries like Afghanistan (140), Syria (135) and Somalia (134).

The list would suggest that Asian countries are considered the safest, while South American countries are the least secure.  

In terms of other countries, China comes in at 19, Germany is 44, and Russia is 49th. Countries outside the top 50 include Pakistan (57), Canada (62), India (65), Australia (67) and New Zealand (69).

The calculations are based on surveys from visitors to the website.  

“Questions for these surveys are similar to many similar scientific and government surveys,” says Numbeo on its website.