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 North Korea, where reported levels range from 1 to 4.

Singapore: diverges from the pack most often — 2+ levels from the consensus on 11.6% of the countries it rates.

13 of the 212 widely-rated countries have full consensus: every government reports the same level.

Top 30 most-contested destinations, ranked by spread:

1
North Korea Spread 3 · Median Level 4
5
10
- Normal (2)
- Caution (1)
- Reconsider (5)
- Avoid (10)
United States and Canada advise against all travel; Japan and Czech Republic report normal precautions.

Outliers: 1 Japan 2 Switzerland 1 Czech Republic
2
Bahrain Spread 3 · Median Level 3
4
5
10
4
- Normal (4)
- Caution (5)
- Reconsider (10)
- Avoid (4)
Australia and Netherlands advise against all travel; United Kingdom and France report normal precautions.

Outliers: 1 United Kingdom 1 France 1 Belgium 1 Italy
3
Belarus Spread 3 · Median Level 4
3
4
11
- Normal (1)
- Caution (3)
- Reconsider (4)
- Avoid (11)
United States and United Kingdom advise against all travel; Slovakia report normal precautions.

Outliers: 1 Slovakia 2 Spain 2 Czech Republic 2 Hungary
4
Gabon Spread 3 · Median Level 2
10
6
4
- Normal (10)
- Caution (6)
- Reconsider (4)
- Avoid (1)
Taiwan advise against all travel; United Kingdom and Germany report normal precautions.

Outliers: 4 Taiwan
5
Guinea-Bissau Spread 3 · Median Level 2
3
10
4
- Normal (3)
- Caution (10)
- Reconsider (4)
- Avoid (2)
Poland and Hungary advise against all travel; United Kingdom and Germany report normal precautions.

Outliers: 4 Poland 4 Hungary
6
Cuba Spread 3 · Median Level 3
3

12
- Normal (3)
- Caution (2)
- Reconsider (12)
- Avoid (1)
Poland advise against all travel; Japan and Slovakia report normal precautions.

Outliers: 1 Japan 1 Slovakia 1 France
7
Kuwait Spread 3 · Median Level 3
5
11
3
- Normal (2)
- Caution (5)
- Reconsider (11)
- Avoid (3)
Australia and New Zealand advise against all travel; United Kingdom and Slovakia report normal precautions.

Outliers: 1 United Kingdom 1 Slovakia
8
Burundi Spread 3 · Median Level 2
10
7
3
- Normal (1)
- Caution (10)
- Reconsider (7)
- Avoid (3)
Ireland and Taiwan advise against all travel; Estonia report normal precautions.

Outliers: 4 Ireland 4 Taiwan 4 Hungary
9
Malawi Spread 3 · Median Level 2
8
11
- Normal (8)
- Caution (11)
- Reconsider (1)
- Avoid (1)
Hungary advise against all travel; United Kingdom and Germany report normal precautions.

Outliers: 4 Hungary
10
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
11
Guinea Spread 3 · Median Level 2
14
- Normal (2)
- Caution (14)
- Reconsider (2)
- Avoid (2)
Taiwan and Poland advise against all travel; United Kingdom and Estonia report normal precautions.

Outliers: 4 Taiwan 4 Poland
12
Uganda Spread 3 · Median Level 2
14
5
- Normal (2)
- Caution (14)
- 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
13
Equatorial Guinea Spread 3 · Median Level 2
6
11
- Normal (6)
- Caution (11)
- Reconsider (1)
- Avoid (1)
Taiwan advise against all travel; United Kingdom and Germany report normal precautions.

Outliers: 4 Taiwan
14
Zimbabwe Spread 3 · Median Level 2
7
12
- Normal (7)
- Caution (12)
- Reconsider (1)
- Avoid (1)
Taiwan advise against all travel; United Kingdom and Germany report normal precautions.

Outliers: 4 Taiwan
15
Eritrea Spread 3 · Median Level 2
10
8
- Normal (1)
- Caution (10)
- Reconsider (8)
- Avoid (2)
Spain and Taiwan advise against all travel; Estonia report normal precautions.

Outliers: 4 Spain 4 Taiwan
16
Nigeria Spread 3 · Median Level 3
6
12
- Normal (1)
- Caution (6)
- Reconsider (12)
- Avoid (2)
Taiwan and Hungary advise against all travel; Czech Republic report normal precautions.

Outliers: 1 Czech Republic
17
Congo Spread 3 · Median Level 2
2
11
2
- Normal (2)
- Caution (11)
- Reconsider (2)
- Avoid (1)
Taiwan advise against all travel; Germany and Switzerland report normal precautions.

Outliers: 4 Taiwan
18
Benin Spread 3 · Median Level 2
3
14
3
- Normal (3)
- Caution (14)
- Reconsider (3)
- Avoid (1)
Taiwan advise against all travel; New Zealand and Estonia report normal precautions.

Outliers: 4 Taiwan
19
South Sudan Spread 3 · Median Level 4
19
- Normal (1)
- Reconsider (1)
- Avoid (19)
United States and United Kingdom advise against all travel; Czech Republic report normal precautions.

Outliers: 1 Czech Republic
20
Togo Spread 3 · Median Level 2
14
- Normal (2)
- Caution (14)
- Reconsider (2)
- Avoid (1)
Taiwan advise against all travel; New Zealand and Estonia report normal precautions.

Outliers: 4 Taiwan
21
Jordan Spread 3 · Median Level 3
9
13
- Normal (1)
- Caution (9)
- Reconsider (13)
- Avoid (1)
Serbia advise against all travel; Italy report normal precautions.

Outliers: 1 Italy
22
Senegal Spread 3 · Median Level 2
3
17
- Normal (3)
- Caution (17)
- Reconsider (1)
- Avoid (1)
Taiwan advise against all travel; United States and United Kingdom report normal precautions.

Outliers: 4 Taiwan
23
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
24
Palestine Spread 2 · Median Level 4
5

11
- Caution (5)
- Reconsider (1)
- 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 2 Czech Republic
25
Russia Spread 2 · Median Level 3
6
6
11
- Caution (6)
- Reconsider (6)
- Avoid (11)
United States and United Kingdom advise against all travel; Slovakia and Hong Kong advise increased caution.

No single government is a clear outlier here — the disagreement is more gradual, spread across several levels.
26
Israel Spread 2 · Median Level 3
6
9
8
- Caution (6)
- Reconsider (9)
- Avoid (8)
Slovakia and New Zealand advise against all travel; Netherlands and Japan advise increased caution.

No single government is a clear outlier here — the disagreement is more gradual, spread across several levels.
27
Myanmar Spread 2 · Median Level 3.5
4
7
11
- Caution (4)
- Reconsider (7)
- Avoid (11)
United States and Canada advise against all travel; Japan and Hong Kong advise increased caution.

No single government is a clear outlier here — the disagreement is more gradual, spread across several levels.
28
Qatar Spread 2 · Median Level 3
4
7
12
- Normal (4)
- Caution (7)
- Reconsider (12)
United States and Canada recommend reconsidering travel; United Kingdom and Slovakia report normal precautions.

Outliers: 1 United Kingdom 1 Slovakia 1 France 1 Italy
29
Chad Spread 2 · Median Level 3
5
9
7
- Caution (5)
- Reconsider (9)
- Avoid (7)
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.
30
Burkina Faso Spread 2 · Median Level 4
3
5
12
- Caution (3)
- Reconsider (5)
- Avoid (12)
United States and United Kingdom advise against all travel; Germany and Belgium advise increased caution.

Outliers: 2 Germany 2 Belgium 2 Czech Republic

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