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IsItSafeToTravel

Last update: October 11, 2026

Updated daily

Is It Safe to Travel to Palau Right Now?

Generally safe

8 7.6 out of 10

Safety Score

Last updated: October 11, 2026 61% data coverage

Palau has a safety score of 7.6/10 as of October 11, 2026, rated as Low risk and ranking 64th out of 248 countries worldwide. The biggest concern is crime (6.0/10), while the strongest area is conflict (8.9/10). It combines 17 government travel advisories and 4 other public datasets and is recalculated daily.

What are the safety risk areas?

Governance 5.6/10
Crime 6.0/10
Health 8.2/10
Environment 8.2/10
Conflict 8.9/10
Indicator-level detail

Governance 5.6/10 · Moderate · Coverage: 25%

Indicators Value Source Year
INFORM Governance Index 5.5/10 inform 2026

Crime 6.0/10 · Moderate · Coverage: 50%

Indicators Value Source Year
World Bank Intentional-Homicide Rate (population-reliability scaled) 8.1/10 worldbank 2018

Health 8.2/10 · Low · Coverage: 100%

Indicators Value Source Year
World Bank Child Mortality Rate 8.9/10 worldbank 2024
INFORM Health Risk Index 10.0/10 inform 2026
INFORM Epidemic Risk Index 8.0/10 inform 2026

Environment 8.2/10 · Low · Coverage: 80%

Indicators Value Source Year
World Bank Air Pollution (PM2.5) 9.5/10 worldbank 2023
INFORM Natural Hazard Risk 7.7/10 inform 2026
INFORM Climate Risk 10.0/10 inform 2026
ReliefWeb Active Humanitarian Disasters 9.0/10 reliefweb 2026

Conflict 8.9/10 · Low · Coverage: 50%

Indicators Value Source Year
UCDP Conflict-Death Count (log-normalized) 10.0/10 ucdp 2025

See how these scores are calculated on the Methodology page.

Community Sentiment

Community

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Community estimate — does not affect the safety score.

Does this safety score feel right for Palau?

What do governments say?

Government of Canada

Level 1

Exercise normal security precautions

Updated: Sep 24, 2026 Source

Last successfully checked: Oct 1, 2026

US State Department

Level 1

Exercise Normal Precautions

Updated: Jan 6, 2026 Source

UK FCDO

Level 1

No specific advisory — see latest advice

Updated: Dec 10, 2025 Source

Australian Government

Level 1

Exercise normal safety precautions

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it safe to travel to Palau in 2026?

Yes, generally — Palau is considered a safe destination: as of October 2026 it scores 7.6/10 on our daily safety index, classified as Low risk. The score is an uncertainty-weighted (Bayesian shrinkage) geometric mean of five pillars: conflict (30%), crime (25%), health (20%), governance (15%) and environment (10%).

A weak pillar drags the overall score down more than a strong one lifts it, and the mix also folds in a calibrated consensus of government travel advisories. Thin or stale data pulls a country's score toward a cautious regional baseline instead of guessing — see our methodology page for the full statistical detail.

conflict (8.9/10) is Palau's strongest pillar, while the score is pulled down by health (8.2/10) and above all by crime (6.0/10). This pillar reflects violent crime, theft and organized criminal activity — a low score calls for extra street awareness, especially outside the main tourist areas.

It combines 17 government travel advisories and 4 other public datasets and is recalculated daily.

What is the biggest risk when traveling to Palau?

No single factor stands out as critical for Palau: its relatively weakest area is crime at 6.0/10, close to the global mid-range. This pillar reflects violent crime, theft and organized criminal activity — a low score calls for extra street awareness, especially outside the main tourist areas.

The main signal behind this is homicide rate (World Bank). Its strongest pillar is conflict at 8.9/10.

What do government travel advisories say about Palau?

As of October 2026, Palau has 17 government travel advisories on record. The overall picture is reassuring: most governments advise only normal precautions for Palau, and none currently raises it above a low-level advisory.

Find flights to Palau · Koror (ROR)

How does Palau compare to nearby countries?

CountryScoreConflictCrimeHealthGovernanceEnvironment
New Zealand8.59.08.47.88.67.0
Australia8.48.78.28.08.46.6
Fiji8.18.97.97.56.67.6
Vanuatu8.08.87.77.76.27.6
Palau7.68.96.08.25.68.2

Palau and its neighbouring countries

Related Countries

Similar safety scores

Rankings

How has the safety score changed over time?

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Where does the data come from?

  • Travel advisories from 17 governments: US State Department, UK FCDO, Government of Canada, Australian Government, German Federal Foreign Office, Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, New Zealand SafeTravel, Ireland Department of Foreign Affairs, Austrian Federal Ministry (BMEIA), Serbia Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Italy Viaggiare Sicuri, Spain Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Taiwan Bureau of Consular Affairs, Poland Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Czech Republic Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Hungary Ministry of Foreign Affairs

    Checked: Oct 11, 2026

  • informFresh

    INFORM Risk Index -- hazard, exposure, vulnerability, and coping capacity

    Data vintage: 2026Checked: Oct 11, 2026

  • ReliefWeb -- humanitarian situation reports and disaster alerts

    Data vintage: 2026Checked: Oct 11, 2026

  • ucdpFresh

    UCDP Georeferenced Event Dataset (Uppsala Conflict Data Program) -- state-based and one-sided conflict deaths, via the Our World in Data mirror (CC-BY)

    Data vintage: 2025Checked: Oct 11, 2026

  • worldbankRecent

    World Bank Development Indicators -- child mortality and PM2.5 air pollution

    Data vintage: 2018–2024Checked: Oct 11, 2026