The Safest Golden Visa Locations: What The 2026 Peace Index Shows

More of our clients are starting the conversation by asking where the safest place to live is. The 2026 Global Peace Index puts a number on that question.

The Institute for Economics and Peace ranks 163 countries covering 99.7% of the world’s population, and nine of the destinations La Vida works with appear in it. New Zealand comes in at No. 2 globally. Portugal is No. 7.

What The Global Peace Index Measures

The Global Peace Index scores every country on 23 indicators across three domains. Societal Safety and Security covers violent crime, perceptions of criminality, terrorism impact and political instability. Ongoing Conflict covers internal and external conflicts fought and the deaths from them. Militarisation covers defence spending, weapons imports and armed forces personnel.

Iceland has held first place for 19 consecutive years. New Zealand’s second position puts an open investor residency route within touching distance of the global benchmark.

The Safest Golden Visa Destinations In 2026

Ranked by overall 2026 Global Peace Index position, the investment migration destinations tracked by La Vida finish as follows.

• New Zealand (2nd globally)
• Portugal (7th globally)
• Canada (14th globally)
• Hungary (15th globally)
• Latvia (19th globally)
• Italy (35th globally)
• Greece (53rd globally)
• United Arab Emirates (73rd globally)
• Panama (81st globally)

Iceland holds first place for the nineteenth consecutive year, so New Zealand’s second position puts an investor-friendly residency route within a place of the global benchmark.

New Zealand Sits Second In The World

New Zealand is the most peaceful country in the Asia-Pacific and the second most peaceful on earth, scoring 1.343. Its score improved 0.4% over the year, driven by a 3.3% improvement on Militarisation as weapons imports fell. It also records the lowest Ongoing Conflict score of any country in its region.

The Active Investor Plus route puts residency in that country within reach of investors who qualify. For families whose whole reason for applying is distance from instability, geography is doing a lot of the work here.

Portugal Leads The European Programs

Portugal ranks No. 7 in the world and No. 6 in Western and Central Europe with a score of 1.427, and it improved over the year while the regional average slipped 0.6%. Western and Central Europe is still the most peaceful region on the Index and holds seven of the world’s ten most peaceful countries.

Hungary at 15th and Latvia at 19th put two more European residency options inside the global top 20. Italy follows at No. 35 and Greece at No. 53, both broadly flat year on year.

Defence Spending Drags Down Some Countries

A country can score lower on the overall Index because it spends heavily on defence, not because everyday life there is less safe.

Militarisation is one of the three domains, and it counts military expenditure, weapons imports and armed forces numbers as marks against a country’s score.

That distorted the 2026 results across Europe. European NATO members raised defence spending 20% in real terms during 2025, which pushed the regional Militarisation domain down 2.5% in a single year.

Belgium fell on exactly that basis, with its military expenditure indicator deteriorating 20.3% as it moved to hit the 2% of GDP target. Nothing about crime or daily life in Belgium changed.

Read the Societal Safety and Security domain on its own and you get a cleaner picture of what living there actually feels like.

• New Zealand (14th)
• Canada (16th)
• Latvia (18th)
• Italy ranks (24th)
• Portugal ranks (25th)
• Hungary ranks (31st)
• Greece ranks (43rd)
• United Arab Emirates (48th)

Italy and Greece both climb on this domain against their overall position, while Turkey records one of the five largest improvements in the world on the 2026 index, rising eight places on the back of a sustained peace process.

Panama At No. 81 Is Stronger Than Its Ranking Suggests

Panama scores 1.976 and lands at No. 81 of 163, which places it in the top half of every country the Index covers. It sits ahead of the United States at No. 134, Nigeria at No. 142 and Russia at No. 163.

Context matters on a list this long. A ranking in the eighties reads modestly next to Portugal or New Zealand, and it still puts Panama above dozens of countries our clients currently hold passports from.

What Our Clients Are Telling Us

We see the importance of safety constantly, and our own 2025 survey data backs it up on both sides of the Atlantic. Among UK investors, 59.3% cited crime and security as a concern influencing their decision to seek a second residency or citizenship.

Among US investors, 76.4% named a Plan B back-up option as a main goal, well ahead of relocation at 52%.

Most clients are not reacting to a single headline. They are building somewhere the family can go if things at home take a turn.

New Zealand, Portugal, Canada, Hungary and Latvia all sit inside the global top 20 for peacefulness, and every one of them runs a live investment migration route. Italy, Greece, the UAE and Panama all rank in the top half of the Index – higher when factoring in the less important defence spending.

A safe second residency is not insurance against one bad news cycle. It is insurance against the world becoming less predictable. If you want to talk through which of these destinations fits your own plans, get in touch with La Vida’s expert advisers.

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