Is Europe Safer for Women Than America?
Yes, by most measurable metrics. Only 58% of American women feel safe walking alone at night (Gallup 2024) compared to 81% in Spain and mid-80s in the Netherlands. The US homicide rate (4.96 per 100,000) is 7-8x higher than Spain (0.63), Portugal (0.70), and the Netherlands (0.58). The Netherlands ranks in the global top 10 on the Georgetown Women, Peace and Security Index.
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There's a specific mental calculation that women make when they're out late. Not a conscious one — it's faster than that. Which street, which side of the street, how far to the car, is anyone behind me. Most American women know this calculation without being taught it. They've just always done it.
The women who've moved to cities like Valencia, Amsterdam, or Lisbon often describe the same thing: at some point, they noticed they'd stopped doing it. Not because they'd gotten reckless, but because something in the environment — the density of people, the lighting, the general sense that public space is genuinely public — had quietly switched the calculation off.
That's a lived experience. But it turns out there's a lot of data behind it.
How Do Women's Safety Perceptions Compare Between the US and Europe?
Gallup surveys more than 145,000 adults across 144 countries each year with a single question: do you feel safe walking alone at night where you live? It's imperfect as a measure of objective safety, but it's one of the most honest measures of what safety actually feels like — which is what most of us mean when we ask the question.
In the United States in 2024, 58% of women said yes. That's not a number from a dangerous city. That's the national average.
In Spain, the figure is around 81% across the full adult population. Portugal comes in at approximately 72% for women specifically. The Netherlands, which clusters with Scandinavia in most safety rankings, reaches into the mid-80s.
In the United States, the gender gap in safety perception sits at 26 points — 58% of women feel safe walking alone at night versus 84% of men. If global rankings were based only on women's perceptions, the US would fall from 61st to 77th globally.
That gap — between how safe American men feel and how safe American women feel — is one of the largest Gallup has recorded in any high-income country.
What Do the Crime Statistics Actually Show?
Perception matters, but so does what's actually happening. Homicide rates are the most reliable cross-country crime metric researchers have — a death is difficult to reclassify or ignore, which makes the data unusually consistent across borders.
The United States recorded a homicide rate of 4.96 per 100,000 people — and that's after significant recent declines. Crime fell substantially in 2024, with the murder rate reaching a nine-year low. That's real progress worth acknowledging.
It still leaves the US at roughly seven to eight times the rate of Spain (0.63), Portugal (0.70), and the Netherlands (0.58), per UNODC data.
To put that in terms of actual American cities rather than abstractions: Denver's 2024 homicide rate was around 7.3 per 100,000. Austin was 4.6. Seattle was 3.5. Portland was 6.2. These aren't the cities that make the news for violence. These are places where a lot of educated, mobile women live right now and are actively weighing whether to stay. All of them sit meaningfully above the national figures for all three countries we cover.
Spain ranked 25th safest in the world in the 2025 Global Peace Index, with Europe dominating the top of that table — four of the five safest countries globally were European. Portugal has ranked in the top 10 globally for years, placing 7th in the most recent index.
How Does School Safety Compare for Mothers Considering a Move?
In 2024, there were more than 50 recorded school shootings in the United States. The Violence Project's K-12 School Shooting Database tracked more than 300 shootings at US schools in both 2022 and 2023.
The US has had more school shootings than the other six G7 nations combined — by a factor of 57, for the period 2009 to 2018.
The Netherlands has had two school shootings since records began, both before 2005. Spain has had one. Portugal has none on record.
There is no good way to present this comparison neutrally. A generation of American children has grown up practicing what to do if someone comes through the classroom door. Their European peers have not. This is not a policy argument — it's just what the data shows, and for a lot of mothers it's the number that lands heaviest.
What Is Daily Safety Like for Women in Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands?
The three countries Americans most commonly relocate to through digital nomad and passive income visas each have their own character when it comes to safety — and it's worth being specific rather than lumping them together as "Europe."
The Netherlands is the standout. It consistently ranks alongside Scandinavia on composite women's safety indices — the Georgetown Institute's Women, Peace and Security Index, which covers 181 countries across legal protections, access to justice, and institutional trust, places the Netherlands in the global top 10. Amsterdam has pickpocketing in tourist areas; its violent crime rate is among the lowest of any major European city. Women there describe a freedom of movement in public space — cycling home at midnight, late trains — that most American cities don't offer in the same way.
Spain is more complex, and honestly more interesting. 81% of Spanish adults report feeling safe walking alone at night, and Euronews analysts describe Spain as having a "grounded" sense of its own safety — meaning perception and reality are reasonably aligned, unlike in some other European countries. Spain was the first EU country to pass comprehensive gender-based violence legislation, in 2004, and its legal framework has continued to develop. Cities vary significantly: Valencia and Seville feel genuinely relaxed in a way that Barcelona, with its high tourist density and corresponding petty crime, doesn't always. Most of the customers who go through this platform are moving to regional Spanish cities, not tourist corridors — and that's a meaningfully different experience.
Portugal is quieter, and safer-feeling for it. About 72% of women feel safe walking alone at night, and the country records near-zero political violence events targeting women. Lisbon and Porto have changed with the wave of tourism — pickpocketing has increased in both — and a Reuters-cited analysis noted violent crime ticked up around 5.6% year-on-year in one recent period. The baseline is still low. The towns outside the tourist corridors — Setúbal, Évora, Braga — register some of the lowest crime figures in Western Europe.
Where Does Europe Fall Short on Women's Safety?
This piece would be dishonest if it stopped there.
Intimate partner violence is not a problem Europe has solved. Gallup's data shows that 56% of homicides where the victim is a woman are perpetrated by an intimate partner or family member — and that pattern holds across Europe as much as the US. The legal frameworks in Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands are strong. But moving abroad doesn't change the circumstances a woman is already in.
Italy's performance is the worst in Europe by safety perception — only 44% of Italian women feel safe walking alone at night, a 32-point gap versus Italian men — despite Italy's objective homicide rate being lower than Spain's. France and Greece sit below Spain and Portugal on most women's safety metrics. If those countries are on your list, the lived experience diverges from headline rankings in ways worth understanding.
And the Netherlands, for all its structural safety, sits among EU countries with a 26-point gender gap in safety perception — the same as the US. Women there feel meaningfully less safe than men, even if the absolute figures are among the world's highest. Being a woman in public space carries weight in Amsterdam too. The difference is the floor, not the ceiling.
How Do Institutions Protect Women Differently in Europe?
The Georgetown Institute's Women, Peace and Security Index captures something that homicide rates can't: whether the systems around you — courts, police, healthcare, institutions — are oriented toward your safety and wellbeing. It's measured across 13 indicators and 181 countries.
Denmark leads. The Netherlands is in the top 10. Spain is in the top quartile globally. Portugal in the top third.
The United States sits in the middle tier for a high-income country, pulled down in part by declining institutional confidence scores. Over the past decade, young American women's confidence in US institutions fell from an average index score of 57 to 40 — a drop that Gallup notes correlates directly with the desire to leave. Their confidence in the courts specifically dropped from 55% to 32%.
That's not a question about whether the street is safe at 11pm. It's a question about whether you trust that the world you're moving through is oriented toward your protection when something goes wrong. For a lot of women running this calculation right now, they're not separating those questions. They're asking the same one.
If any of this has moved from abstract to concrete for you, the next step is figuring out whether a visa path is actually open. Our free assessment takes about five minutes, covers Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands, and tells you exactly where you stand.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is the safest European country for women?
The Netherlands consistently ranks in the global top 10 on the Georgetown Women, Peace and Security Index and clusters with Scandinavian countries on most safety metrics. Among the three countries most popular with American expats, the Netherlands leads, followed by Spain (81% feel safe walking at night) and Portugal (72% for women).
Is the US homicide rate really that much higher than Europe?
Yes. The US homicide rate is 4.96 per 100,000 — roughly 7-8x higher than Spain (0.63), Portugal (0.70), and the Netherlands (0.58). Even relatively safe US cities like Austin (4.6) and Seattle (3.5) exceed the national rates of all three European countries.
Are school shootings a concern in Europe?
Essentially no. The Netherlands has had two school shootings since records began (both before 2005), Spain has had one, and Portugal has had none. The US had more than 50 in 2024 alone and more school shootings than the other six G7 nations combined by a factor of 57.
Is intimate partner violence lower in Europe?
Not necessarily. Gallup data shows that 56% of homicides where the victim is a woman are perpetrated by an intimate partner or family member, and this pattern holds across Europe as well as the US. The legal frameworks in Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands are strong, but moving abroad doesn't change personal circumstances.
How safe is Barcelona compared to other Spanish cities?
Barcelona's high tourist density correlates with more petty crime (pickpocketing, bag snatching) than regional cities like Valencia and Seville, which feel noticeably more relaxed. Most American expats relocating through digital nomad visas are moving to these regional cities rather than tourist corridors.
Do women feel safer in Europe than the US?
Yes, significantly. Only 58% of American women feel safe walking alone at night (Gallup 2024), compared to 81% in Spain, 72% in Portugal, and mid-80s in the Netherlands. The US has a 26-point gender gap in safety perception — one of the largest among high-income countries.
Disclaimer: This post is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal or immigration advice. Safety statistics are subject to methodological variation and change over time. Always verify current conditions through official sources before making any relocation decision.
Sources: Gallup Global Safety Report 2025; Georgetown Institute Women, Peace and Security Index 2025/26; Global Peace Index 2025 (Institute for Economics and Peace); UNODC Intentional Homicide Data; Council on Criminal Justice Year-End 2025 Update; Eurostat Homicide Statistics 2023; FBI Crime Data 2024; Euronews Global Safety Analysis 2025.
