Top 16 Most Dangerous Countries in the World: According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, after the psychological needs of man which include air, water, shelter, food etc., the very next objective in the priority of man is security. If an individual does not feel safe and secured in any environment whatsoever, they are most definitely not likely to be productive in that environment and might want to achieve that feeling of being secured and safe before trying to achieve any other level of satisfaction or survival. This is essentially why every individual works to have every form of security in their lives, be it the physical or even financial security.
The fundamental basis for a safe society is that its members are in unity with one another and have a shared interest in almost every aspect of life. The sad reality is that almost every society today suffers from some sort of segregation. It could come in the form of Race, Religion, Ethnicity or even social status, but whatever form of segregation the society suffers from, it is always the brewing point of crisis.
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Top 16 Most Dangerous and Unsafe Countries Around The World
There are a lot of conflicts going on around in the world today and in no small amount contribute to the instability the world all over is experiencing. Taking into account political instability, homicides, military and terrorist activities, natural disasters amongst other things, there a number of countries that are highly unsafe for the civilians and these are the top 16 unsafe places to live in:
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16. Venezuela: Venezuela officially known as the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country in South America’s northern coast with a continental landmass and numerous islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. Its populace was assessed at 29 million as of 2022. The city of Caracas is both the capital and the largest urban areas.
Venezuela has one of the highest murder rates in the world, and violent crimes and kidnapping is also rampant. It’s common to meet people who carry firearms and most victims end up being injured. Barrios (populated slums), are no go areas for the weak.
15. Honduras: Honduras is a central American country. Its capital is Tegucigalpa. Human trafficking, narcotics and rape is popular. Effective response to serious crime is not possible as the police lack the proper methods of controlling crime.
To empower the criminal organizations, weak institutions and wide spread corruption is rampant. Drug traffickers and street gangs has turned Honduras into central America’s most violent country.
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14. Ukraine: Eastern Europe is home to the nation of Ukraine. It borders Russia to the east and northeast, making it the second-largest country in Europe. Belarus also surrounds it to the north; to the west, Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary; and to the southwest, by Moldova and Romania; with a coastline to the south and southeast that runs along the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. Dnipro, Kharkiv, and Odesa are the next three largest cities after Kyiv, the nation’s capital and largest.
Ukrainian is the language of government in Ukraine; Additionally, Russian is widely spoken, particularly in the south and east.
It is advised that you avoid travel to Ukraine, as they are at war with Russia. Your safety is at high risk, more so if you engage in active combat. Most civilian casualties recorded have been cause by explosive weapons, shelling from rocket launchers, airstrikes and missiles.
13. Pakistan: Pakistan is a country in South Asia. Officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. It is the world’s fifth-most populated country, with a populace of more than 249 million individuals, and has the world’s second-biggest Muslim populace, simply behind Indonesia. Islamabad is the country’s capital, while Karachi is its biggest city and financial centre, trailed by Lahore and Faisalabad. With an area of 881,913 square kilometers (340,509 square miles), Pakistan is the second-largest country in South Asia and the 33rd largest in the world.
India to the east, Afghanistan to the west, Iran to the southwest, and China to the northeast line its 1,046-kilometer (650-mile) coastline that runs along the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman in the south. It shares a maritime border with Oman and is only slightly separated from Tajikistan by Afghanistan’s Wakhan Corridor in the north.
Pakistan is a dangerous country because of the terrorism and counter terrorism operations that happen there. Suicide bombings, unnecessary attacks from terrorists with grenades and firearms.
The country is also unsafe for women to live in. Women in Pakistan are considered as a tool to be controlled, as domestic violence is prevalent in the nation.
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12. Colombia: This country is located at the South of America and performs low when it comes to security and most recently, the index from the Legatum Prosperity reported that Colombia performs below average in terms of security (even though they may be doing well in other sectors).
It is also discovered that some of the reasons that made this country dangerous (without security) include: corruption (this includes that their governement did not build confidence in the people), the current wars between its government and the drug cartels.e.t.c. Today, it has been recognized as one of the most dangerous countries globally.
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11. Nigeria: This country is located at the west of Africa and in 2015, the Islamic movement and the Nigerian Security Force confronted each other in Zaria (a city in Kaduna) and it actually interrupted the peace of the country because it led to a broke out of war which led to the death of many eventually.
The Islamic Movement Organization is out to establish islamic law and to eradicate the influence of the westerners in Nigeria and this is because they hate the dangerous activities such as: attacks of foreign terrorists at different places, kidnapping by foreigners.e.t.c. are serious threats in Nigeria.
Today, in addition to the dangers or insecurities in nigeria today, it is worthy to mention some of the military events such as: the attacks from the Fulani herdsmen attacks, the crisis at the Niger Delta, frequent manslaughter.e.t.c.
The Peace officers and the law enforcement officers in nigeria are also some other factors that has endangered the country because they are not willing to serve and protect the interest of the country (even when they do, the unpatriotic ones among them has the larger percentage). In a country where the police, military, and other law enforcement bodies are active, there will be little or no crisis or insecurity as the law will always has its free course so as to ensure safety in that country.
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10. Russia: Number ten on the list is the largest country in the world in the world with a population of over 146.2 million. Russia has a policy that every male citizen between the ages of 18 and 27 serves a mandatory one year in their military and they boast the world’s second most powerful military in the world, spends an estimated $61.7 billion in the military expenditure.
Russia has a long history of civil unrest with continued crisis with neighbors Ukraine. Conflicts between Ukraine and Russia has claimed no less than 10,300 lives while leaving an estimated 24,000 persons injured. The conflict heightens the tension in Russia’s relations with United States and Europe and risks greater escalation if Russia expands its presence in Ukraine or into any NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) countries.
Despite its military expertise, Russia continues to experience high terrorism activity in some parts including Chechnya, Dagestan, Ingushetia among others. There are also risks of political motivated kidnappings in the North Caucasus and foreigners being attacked.
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9. Central African Republic: This landlocked country with an estimated population of 4.6 million people is located in the very center of Africa and is number nine on the list of the most dangerous countries. It has been in a civil war for the better part of nine (9) years, with conflicts between the government, Seleka factions and Anti-balaka militias and even further divisions in Ex-Seleka factions FPRC and UPC that has resulted in further fights and conflicts.
The current civil was preceded by the Bush war after the coup that removed the first democratically elected government from office in 2004. The civil war has seen both the government and the rebels recruit more than 21,000 child soldiers and with an additional 2,200 children falling victims to sexual violence.
Peace agreements between the government and the different armed factions has seen little to no improvement in conflict resolutions with the factions even increasing their violent activities to resist peace accords by both the UN and other external bodies.
Despite its abundance of mineral deposits, the Central African Republic is among the ten poorest countries in the world and it has the second lowest level of human development while also being classified as the worst country to be a youth.
8. Libya: Number eight on the list is the fourth largest country in Africa, Libya has an estimated population of about 6.9million people and is located in north Africa with most of the country lying in the Sahara Desert.
Libya as a country has not recovered from its first armed conflict in 2011. The conflict was assisted by western military intervention allowing the rebels to overthrow the then leader of Libya, Muammar Gaddafi, this led to a vacuum in power and instability with no established authority in charge. Since then there has been competing political and military factions based all around the capital, Tripoli and other regions of the country.
The United Nations tried to intervene and even installed a government, but this was met with opposition by rebels who took control of the eastern part of the country. Some of the rebel groups are supported and funded by other nations who have vested interest in the country’s oil reserves.
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7. Democratic Republic of Congo: With a population of about 105 million people and the largest country in sub-Saharan Africa and second largest in all of Africa is the seventh most dangerous country in the world to live in.
Since 2005, the DR Congo has been the site of an ongoing military conflict resulting in one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. A combination of violence, hunger and total neglect has given rise to one of the most neglected human displacement crises in modern history. Over the last year alone, an average of 6,000 persons flee their homes on a daily basis to escape the increase in violence in the eastern part of the country.
With millions displaced from their homes and the ravaging effects of the Ebola pandemic in the country, the condition grows even worse with the scale and number of conflicts in the country on a gradual increase.
6. Somalia: Located in the horn of Africa with a population of an estimated 15 million people. Somalia has been in an armed civil unrest for over 30 years now which started when the Siad Barre started a resistance against the military Junta (dictatorship) and when military government was overthrown in 1991, a lot of armed factions started to emerge and due to the lack of an established authority, there was a tussle for leadership that led to an initial temporary collapse of customary law in the early 90s.
As of today, there are an estimated 2.6 million persons that are internally displaced due to the civil war and there isn’t hope for the war to end as different communities continue to either create or join a militia group as a means to defend and protect themselves leaving Somalia as number six on the dangerous countries’ list.
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5. Iraq: In the top five is an Asian country of predominantly Muslim indigenes with a population of about 40 million citizens and was in war for nearly eight years between 2003 and 2011, suffering another civil war between 2014 and 2017 and have not truly recovered from the effects of the war as they suffer from a stagnant economy, continued civil unrest and armed conflicts.
The country continues to have threats of terrorism with regular bomb attacks occurring frequently. Extremists, both pro and anti-government militia conduct regular attacks in and around the capital city, Baghdad.
4. South Sudan: The republic of South Sudan is landlocked and has an estimated population of about 11.06 million people. The country gained independence from Sudan in 2011 and since then has suffered ethnic violence and civil war that has resulted in widespread human rights abuse and several ethnic massacres.
More than half of the population of South Sudan are displaced. Despite an end to the civil war and a peace agreement, armed conflicts still ravage the country so much so that the rate of violence currently exceeds the rate during the civil wars.
In recent times, attacks on civilians are even more than the attacks on other militias and rebel groups earning the country a spot at number 4 of most dangerous countries in the world.
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3. Syria: Another western Asia country on the dangerous country list is Syria with an estimated population of about 17 million people with 6.2 million of them internally displaced and another 5.6 million registered as Syrian refugees.
On the global peace index, Syria is ranked last and this is in no small part due to the civil war that has ravaged the country for over 10 years now. Starting in 2011 as protests against the president, Bashar al-Assad, it has since escalated and left the country in a full-blown civil war involving several factions, leading to destruction of cities, loss of lives that numbers in the hundreds of thousands and severe cases of human rights abuse.
The fact that there are hundreds of rebel groups involved in the civil war might indicate that the end to the Syrian civil war is nowhere in sight, and also precipitating the war is foreign powers, who take sides and sends money and arms to different factions and groups.
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2. Yemen: A west Asian country with an estimated population of 30 million citizens. Yemen ranks number two in the dangerous countries list as a result of the over 10 years of political crisis that started out as street protests against poverty and bad governance. The then president stepped down and handed over power to a new regime but ever since then, there has been a full-on civil war in the country that forced the new president to flee the country.
Other Arab countries have since gotten involved in the war, facilitating air strikes to defeat rebel groups and to restore the embattled government of the ousted regime. Since the outbreak of the war, twenty million people in Yemen rely on humanitarian aid to survive.
1. Afghanistan: The number one in the world’s most dangerous countries, Afghanistan, has seen rapid increase in military attacks on civilian by the Taliban, capturing province after province and even forcing the United States to withdraw their entire military presence in the country.
The country is now under the total control of the rebel group after forcing the president to flee the country. They have continually attacked the provinces, with numerous suicide attacks on the cities and recording unprecedented amounts of casualties every year.
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Conclusion
War and conflict have always been the fruits of segregation and disunity in any society. The general effect has always been to endanger lives and cause the loss of properties. This is one thing every country on this list has in common, they are all at war leaving the lives of its citizens extremely endangered and every citizen of these countries has in one way or the other been adversely affected by the wars and the countries themselves have suffered nothing but stagnation or even retardation.
Edeh Samuel Chukwuemeka, ACMC, is a lawyer and a certified mediator/conciliator in Nigeria. He is also a developer with knowledge in various programming languages. Samuel is determined to leverage his skills in technology, SEO, and legal practice to revolutionize the legal profession worldwide by creating web and mobile applications that simplify legal research. Sam is also passionate about educating and providing valuable information to people.
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