Where Governments Disagree on Travel Safety

Every government publishes its own travel advisory, and most of the time they roughly agree. This page ranks the countries where they don't — and names which governments are the outliers.

The disagreement score is the spread — the highest advisory level reported for a country minus the lowest — with countries tied on spread ranked by how spread out (standard deviation) the levels are.

The most contested destination is Belarus, where reported levels range from 1 to 4.

Taiwan: diverges from the pack most often — 2+ levels from the consensus on 8.6% of the countries it rates.

14 of the 213 widely-rated countries have full consensus: every government reports the same level.

Top 30 most-contested destinations, ranked by spread:

1
Belarus Spread 3 · Median Level 4
3
13
- Normal (1)
- Caution (2)
- Reconsider (3)
- Avoid (13)
United States and United Kingdom advise against all travel; Slovakia report normal precautions.

Outliers: 1 Slovakia 2 Spain 2 Hungary
2
Guinea-Bissau Spread 3 · Median Level 2
3
9
5
- Normal (3)
- Caution (9)
- Reconsider (5)
- Avoid (2)
Poland and Hungary advise against all travel; United Kingdom and Germany report normal precautions.

Outliers: 4 Poland 4 Hungary
3
Gabon Spread 3 · Median Level 2
9
8
- Normal (9)
- Caution (8)
- Reconsider (2)
- Avoid (1)
Taiwan advise against all travel; United Kingdom and Germany report normal precautions.

Outliers: 4 Taiwan
4
Bahrain Spread 3 · Median Level 3
4
13
4
- Normal (2)
- Caution (4)
- Reconsider (13)
- Avoid (4)
Netherlands and Singapore advise against all travel; United Kingdom and Italy report normal precautions.

Outliers: 1 United Kingdom 1 Italy
5
Qatar Spread 3 · Median Level 2
4
8
10
- Normal (4)
- Caution (8)
- Reconsider (10)
- Avoid (1)
Singapore advise against all travel; United Kingdom and Slovakia report normal precautions.

Outliers: 4 Singapore
6
Burundi Spread 3 · Median Level 3
9
8
3
- Normal (1)
- Caution (9)
- Reconsider (8)
- Avoid (3)
Ireland and Taiwan advise against all travel; Estonia report normal precautions.

Outliers: 1 Estonia
7
Guinea Spread 3 · Median Level 2
13
3
- Normal (2)
- Caution (13)
- Reconsider (3)
- Avoid (2)
Taiwan and Poland advise against all travel; United Kingdom and Estonia report normal precautions.

Outliers: 4 Taiwan 4 Poland
8
Djibouti Spread 3 · Median Level 2
14
3
- Normal (2)
- Caution (14)
- Reconsider (3)
- Avoid (2)
Taiwan and Hungary advise against all travel; Germany and Estonia report normal precautions.

Outliers: 4 Taiwan 4 Hungary
9
Uganda Spread 3 · Median Level 2
15
5
- Normal (2)
- Caution (15)
- Reconsider (5)
- Avoid (2)
United States and Taiwan advise against all travel; United Kingdom and Estonia report normal precautions.

Outliers: 4 United States 4 Taiwan
10
Malawi Spread 3 · Median Level 2
7
12
- Normal (7)
- Caution (12)
- Reconsider (1)
- Avoid (1)
Hungary advise against all travel; United Kingdom and Germany report normal precautions.

Outliers: 4 Hungary
11
Eritrea Spread 3 · Median Level 3
9
9
- Normal (1)
- Caution (9)
- Reconsider (9)
- Avoid (2)
Spain and Taiwan advise against all travel; Estonia report normal precautions.

Outliers: 1 Estonia
12
Zimbabwe Spread 3 · Median Level 2
6
13
- Normal (6)
- Caution (13)
- Reconsider (1)
- Avoid (1)
Taiwan advise against all travel; United Kingdom and Germany report normal precautions.

Outliers: 4 Taiwan
13
Nigeria Spread 3 · Median Level 3
5
13
- Normal (1)
- Caution (5)
- Reconsider (13)
- Avoid (2)
Taiwan and Hungary advise against all travel; Czech Republic report normal precautions.

Outliers: 1 Czech Republic
14
Cuba Spread 3 · Median Level 3
3
13
- Normal (1)
- Caution (3)
- Reconsider (13)
- Avoid (2)
Poland and Czech Republic advise against all travel; Slovakia report normal precautions.

Outliers: 1 Slovakia
15
Equatorial Guinea Spread 3 · Median Level 2
5
13
- Normal (5)
- Caution (13)
- Avoid (1)
Taiwan advise against all travel; United Kingdom and Germany report normal precautions.

Outliers: 4 Taiwan
16
United Arab Emirates Spread 3 · Median Level 3
9
10
- Normal (1)
- Caution (9)
- Reconsider (10)
- Avoid (1)
Singapore advise against all travel; United Kingdom report normal precautions.

Outliers: 1 United Kingdom
17
Benin Spread 3 · Median Level 2
3
15
- Normal (3)
- Caution (15)
- Reconsider (2)
- Avoid (1)
Taiwan advise against all travel; New Zealand and Estonia report normal precautions.

Outliers: 4 Taiwan
18
Republic of the Congo Spread 3 · Median Level 2
13
- Normal (2)
- Caution (13)
- Reconsider (1)
- Avoid (1)
Taiwan advise against all travel; Germany and Switzerland report normal precautions.

Outliers: 4 Taiwan
19
Kuwait Spread 3 · Median Level 3
3
15
- Normal (1)
- Caution (3)
- Reconsider (15)
- Avoid (2)
Singapore and Poland advise against all travel; United Kingdom report normal precautions.

Outliers: 1 United Kingdom
20
Togo Spread 3 · Median Level 2
15
- Normal (2)
- Caution (15)
- Reconsider (1)
- Avoid (1)
Taiwan advise against all travel; New Zealand and Estonia report normal precautions.

Outliers: 4 Taiwan
21
Cameroon Spread 3 · Median Level 2
15
3
- Normal (1)
- Caution (15)
- Reconsider (3)
- Avoid (1)
Taiwan advise against all travel; Czech Republic report normal precautions.

Outliers: 4 Taiwan
22
Senegal Spread 3 · Median Level 2
3
18
- Normal (3)
- Caution (18)
- Avoid (1)
Taiwan advise against all travel; United States and United Kingdom report normal precautions.

Outliers: 4 Taiwan
23
Palestine Spread 2 · Median Level 4
4

11
- Caution (4)
- Reconsider (2)
- Avoid (11)
United States and Australia advise against all travel; Netherlands and France advise increased caution.

Outliers: 2 Netherlands 2 France 2 Austria 2 Italy
24
Russia Spread 2 · Median Level 4
4
5
14
- Caution (4)
- Reconsider (5)
- Avoid (14)
United States and United Kingdom advise against all travel; Slovakia and Hong Kong advise increased caution.

Outliers: 2 Slovakia 2 Hong Kong 2 Serbia 2 Hungary
25
Ethiopia Spread 2 · Median Level 2
11
7
3
- Caution (11)
- Reconsider (7)
- Avoid (3)
Serbia and Taiwan advise against all travel; Germany and Netherlands advise increased caution.

Outliers: 4 Serbia 4 Taiwan 4 Hungary
26
Chad Spread 2 · Median Level 3
3
9
9
- Caution (3)
- Reconsider (9)
- Avoid (9)
United States and Australia advise against all travel; Slovakia and France advise increased caution.

No single government is a clear outlier here — the disagreement is more gradual, spread across several levels.
27
Suriname Spread 2 · Median Level 1.5
9
7
- Normal (9)
- Caution (7)
- Reconsider (2)
Poland and Hungary recommend reconsidering travel; United States and United Kingdom report normal precautions.

No single government is a clear outlier here — the disagreement is more gradual, spread across several levels.
28
Israel Spread 2 · Median Level 3
5
13
6
- Caution (5)
- Reconsider (13)
- Avoid (6)
Slovakia and Hong Kong advise against all travel; Netherlands and Denmark advise increased caution.

No single government is a clear outlier here — the disagreement is more gradual, spread across several levels.
29
Comoros Spread 2 · Median Level 2
5
10
3
- Normal (5)
- Caution (10)
- Reconsider (3)
Spain and Taiwan recommend reconsidering travel; United Kingdom and Germany report normal precautions.

No single government is a clear outlier here — the disagreement is more gradual, spread across several levels.
30
Myanmar Spread 2 · Median Level 4
8
12
- Caution (2)
- Reconsider (8)
- Avoid (12)
United States and Canada advise against all travel; Hong Kong and Taiwan advise increased caution.

Outliers: 2 Hong Kong 2 Taiwan

Why Governments Disagree

Governments don't disagree because one of them is wrong. Each sets its own risk appetite: some advisories are written to cover the most cautious traveller and shift early, others are meant as a floor of practical guidance and move only when the facts clearly demand it.

Consular capacity plays a role too. A government with a large embassy network and consular staff on the ground can support its citizens through a higher-risk situation, and may keep a lower advisory level as a result; a government with little or no local presence has less room to help if something goes wrong, and tends to advise more cautiously.

Diplomatic relationships and update timing matter as well: advisories are drafted by people, on different schedules, sometimes shaped by bilateral ties that have nothing to do with the actual risk on the ground. None of this means any single advisory is unreliable — it means no single one tells the whole story, which is exactly why comparing them side by side is useful.

Every level here is mapped onto the same 1–4 scale explained in our methodology.

Government Travel Advisories