Israel has been rated the fifth safest nation for tourists to visit, in a new ranking.

The US insurance website The Swiftest ranked 50 countries that were selected based on their popularity with tourists, and were judged based on seven factors including homicide rates and natural disaster risk, hygiene conditions, life years lost due to communicable disease, and life years lost due to injury.

Due to ongoing conflicts, Russia and Ukraine were not included in the study.

All factors included, Israel was ranked fifth-safest behind Singapore, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Switzerland.

The United States’ high homicide rate and natural disasters left it at 20th place on the ranking, with an overall safety grade of C-.

On the list of safest countries, the US ranked 30th, while, Canada was at 21, followed by Australia (18), France (15), and the United Kingdom (10).

The study was based on data pooled from public reports by a collection of global organisations including the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, the World Health Organization, the World Bank, Our World in Data, and the WorldRiskReport

Israel was awarded an ‘A’ grade in the index, just below the only ‘A+’ countries of Switzerland, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Singapore.

The study ranked Singapore as the safest, writing: "With a very low homicide rate, road death rate, and natural disaster risk, Singapore is an excellent choice for travellers regarding safety.

“What makes Singapore so safe? Well, crime does not pay in Singapore. The consequences for committing crimes in Singapore are incredibly high, even for ‘smaller crimes.

“This, combined with high surveillance and police presence, makes Singapore the world’s safest country for travel.”

South Africa was the least safe for tourists, mostly down to its murder rate of 36.4 for every 100,000 people. The report estimates that around 68 people are murdered each day out of the country’s overall population of 60 million.

Israel racked up a grade B for its homicide stats, with 1.5 murders per 100,000 people and it also got a B on its natural disaster ranking, and a B+ for its disaster preparedness.

Across every other category, including vehicular deaths, Israel received a grade A.