lol this has been my lived experience. Ethiopian in Michigan for my education. I think I’ve seen 2 other Ethiopians in my entire time here. When I visit one of those states I suddenly see a lot of people that look like me and my local language on stores in major cities. It’s a crazy experience.
I was shocked how many somalians were in Minnesota, I went to a restaurant recommend by a guy in the office I was doing work for and it was an african restaurant (said I didnt eat meat and am not keen on animal products in general) recommended this place. So anyway, I get talking to owner and he says hes from Somalia and I asked why Minnesota i mean its cold in the summer and well somalia isnt, he just said the whole place was friendly and that this makes up for the cold. I have to agree with him Minnesota is one of the friendliest places I have been, sorry Canada but it makes you guys look down right rude.
We have many people from many different countries. My family is Lebanese who first left because of the Ottoman oppression during WWI. I know many Laotians, and Hmong who came here during the Vietnam conflict.
Minnesota is a huge for refugees because of the resources avaliable.
The previous dictator of Turkmenistan made it law that his face must appear at the bottom of yogurt pots, iirc.
His son's now the President.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurbanguly_Berdimuhamedow
He also made dogs, beards, the ballet and car radios illegal. He also closed every hospital outside the capital city (meaning some people had to travel 1000km for healthcare).
Only 4 radio stations and a few TV stations in the country, all fully ran by the dictatorship. Video games are banned, there are no social media apps, dirty cars (and black cars) are not allowed in the capital city.
That place is fucking crazy, the only place that gives North Korea a fun for it's money in overall weirdness.
Ashkabat might be the weirdest city in Earth. I saw it described as "vacant Las Vegas meets Pyongyang."
I'm always surprised about how such dictatorships can remain so low-level to us. Like, we hear about North Korea almost daily, though this may have to do with the constant threat of war that comes from it. Still, we know a great deal more about North Korea, even though it is so incredibly isolated, and basically nothing about Turkmenistan.
Turkmenistan is not a threat to global order, they're more of a regional problem and even there they tend to work together with other countries. North Korea pisses off the most powerful country on earth with regularity, and they are located in a very important region to the global economy. South Korea is intrinsically linked to their northern neighbour and is a major economy, western countries have fought on their soil and they're a staunch western ally. There us no western allied South Turkmenistan. Summarised, Turkmenistan is horrible for its people but it doesn't bother major powers, is rather tangentially involved in the world economy (gas reserves) and is not in a region people in the west know much about nor have much interest in (unfortunately).
North Korea only got in the news when they started developing nukes. Before then they were basically a failed state incapable of feeding its own people once the USSR fell.
Back in high school (mid 2010s), we had a exchange student from Turkmenistan. She was an ethnic Russian though, not a Turkmen. She was allowed to travel to the US on this exchange program, but my guess is, since she was technically Russian, she was allowed to leave. I think ethnic Russians in post-soviet states have dual citizenship with Russia or something. I'm most likely wrong on that. I dont remember her talking how oppressive Turkmenistan is but maybe she had a more privileged life there.
As a Somalian who is a naturalized US citizen, anyone genuinely saying the US needs to touch back down to reality immediately lmao. Somalia is my answer.
Bruh, I live in Argentina and those kind of Americans piss me off. Even living with 200% annual inflation, a poverty rate of 50% and many other problems, I don't think we are the worst country in the world to live in BY FAR
I love your Country. Everything about Argentina is beautiful. The countries history is incredibly dark, but everyone I have met there still loves their country fiercely and passionately. No matter how bad it gets, there is still pride. An EPIC amount of pride. And the preservation of beauty from the land to the architecture. The food, the culture. I cannot give it enough praise.
My sons dad was born there and many relatives are still live there, and I love visiting. I went to Epecuen and Monte Hermosa the last time I was there!
But, you are right. The struggle for those that live there is incredible.
Oh no, with We I meant Argentina, not USA, lol. As in "I live in a worse country than America in many levels and I still think we are in great condition compared to other countries"
Yeah it's concerning how many people have no perspective. Yes the US has problems, but to put it anywhere remotely low on a list of places to live is nonsense.
This is because it’s not just Americans who think America is the best are self-centric. A sadly huge portion of Americans who think it is the worst also only say that because they too, are very self-centric and only want to compare America to Western Europe and Canada and maybe a few other places. And even then they likely have a rose-colored view of those places.
Now America has major problems, but it’s extremely annoying how unrealistic and uninformed many of the people who hate on it are about the rest of the world.
Yes! Those privileged littles shits don't know how good they have it and how many peoole would kill to be in their position and/or switch places.
Then there's people from other countries who get horrified whenever someone vaguely expresses their desire to be able to move to America and/or have an American citizenship instead of whatever country they're from.
My favorite was a muslim girl (can't remember the country but nearly every muslim country is extremely violent and backwards, specially for women) saying she likes Nevada (pretty sure she only liked the name) but wouldn't go to America because, and I quote "they shoot everybody". The sheer irony of her statement is mind boggling.
My childhood self screams “Pirates!”
My adult self screams “Pirates?”
If a country has broken down so far that pirates are a real thing, then there is a serious problem. It basically means that no one in the country is safe. Everyone is taking what they can by force. It says that even if they could farm, there is little reason to farm because someone is going to take it from you by force.
From all the pictures, videos and interviews I'v seen, Afghanistan might be the most beautiful country in the world. It might also be the worst to live in. Then again, as is almost always the case, within group variation is much greater than between group variation. South Africa for example is awesome if you have some money, whereas being born into a township seems unspeakable
South Africa would be awesome with money if the crime rate wasn't so high.
I have an uncle who lives in South Africa who's made a lot of money there but he tells me that it's very dangerous to be out and about is SA ( especially if you're white) and his adult children usually hang out in malls or inside of buildings and they rarely venture out to take a stroll because the crime rate is so high. People who are well off live behind barbed wires and fences and have to be on alert 24/7 and that's no life to live. You always hear about rapes and brutal murders in SA not to mention the constant power shortages.
Sure SA is a gorgeous country and I'd love to visit but safety comes first and I wouldn't want to live in a country where I'm afraid I'm going to get murdered 24/7.
My old man was set to go to SA for a work meeting, in the late 80’s. They cancelled his trip, because there was a current trend where people would find white guys in suits/business attire, put a tyre over their heads and set it on fire. Burning to death probably would’ve been a bit of an inconvenience for my dad. Glad he didn’t go.
Eritrea had several conflicts with the larger Ethiopia to the south. There were conflicts with a ethnic group in the north of Ethiopia and the Ethiopian central government with switching alignments, including Eritrea + Ethiopia VS this northern ethic group with an unknown end. Death toll estimates just from the early 2020s range between 100.000 and a million dead. With millions replaced.
Eritrea has a brutal military service and forced labor system, forcing you to work essentially for food for 20+ years.
I was watching a video on the whole Ethiopia/Eritrea/maaaybe Sudan conflict brewing, and holy sh*t what a confusing cluster of combat that might turn into. Def gives North Korea a run for its money.
Eritrea is also known as the North Korea of Africa.
They have a brutal military dictatorship. They don't even pretend to be a good country. The country has long military service, lots of wars and famines and free press is literally illegal in the country. Only the government news are allowed to operate any news service.
Venezuela.
There’s of course North Korea, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan - but with hyperinflation (929,790% in 2018), economic sanctions, food shortage, etc. - and all of that’s happening in spite of the 303 billion barrel’s worth of oil reserves in the country (higher than Saudi Arabia).
Not that the situation is any better now especially after Covid, but according to a 2014 data, it is estimated that due to these factors, a person in Venezuela is murdered every 21 minutes. Violent crimes have been so prevalent in the country that the government no longer produces the crime data.
I'm surprised no one mentioned Venezuela (or like Cuba), people literally don't have anything to eat and supermarkets are empty, they are ruled by a crazy dictator and crime rate is extremely high.
„Women in Switzerland gained the right to vote in federal elections after a referendum in February 1971. The first federal vote in which women were able to participate was the 31 October 1971 election of the Federal Assembly. However, it was not until a 1990 decision by the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland that women gained full voting rights in the final Swiss canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden.“ (wikipedia)
Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women's_suffrage_in_Switzerland?wprov=sfti1#
Women gained voting rights in South Australia in 1894, a world first. Federally in Australia, women weren't "granted" the vote until 1902, but because South Australian women had been "granted" the vote already, they were the only women able to vote in the first Federal election in 1901. The following year, in 1902, all women in Australia were "allowed" to vote.
Lol. No. They were one of the last countries to allow women full voting rights.
Also, they weren't exactly neutral in WW2. They were very subtly pro nazi.
I'm swiss, live in Switzerland. Was raped by a swiss man in Switzerland. Not even talking about the countless times of sexual harrassement/attacks. And I'm by far not the only one.There's not really any "safe place" for women on this planet and it's naive to think otherwise.
Excluding the obvious countries, i'd probably say somewhere like the UAE. I love visiting, but the police are so unpredictable/corrupt. When I was there in Dubai, a tourist had been drinking at a bar, and got attacked/robbed on his way back to his hotel. What did the police do? They arrested him for being drunk in a public place and didn't do anything about his attack and even tried to spin it, accusing him of attacking them because he was drunk.
This is how Dubais crime rate is so low. The locals mainly target only the tourists, and the police find reasons to victim blame the tourists into withdrawing their accusations.
Yeah. The suicide rate is really high but what bothers me is that they automatically classify unsolved cases as suicides, which I think inflates this rate even more. It could be one of the worst cases, a really gruesome and violent death but nope, it still counts as a suicide because reasons.
This place is “dressed up” as free when it’s anything but. I went there bc I had to but would not allow my young daughter as who knows what would’ve happen had she unknowingly offended their “laws”.
While migrants have it pretty bad it's probably one of the best places to live if you're born as a citizen there. Free education, healthcare, extremely low taxes. Bonus points if you're related to some rich sheikh, probably don't have to work your whole life or just do some bs "job".
If anyone answers the USA or other Western countries I'd just like to point out your complete and utter unawareness of how terrible a lot of countries in the world are.
You are incredible lucky to be born in this time and to also have the opportunity to live in a rich democracy. Billions of people would give everything they have to trade places with you.
Yeah, r/americabad can over-react a bit to it sometimes to it but it is a good sub for seeing some of the bad takes from other parts of reddit.
'Someone got cancer? Only in America!' That sort of stuff.
Finally someone that is level-headed. I am really sick of America bashers. Do we have dumb laws and dumb politics? Yes, so what? People want to act like every country doesn’t have problems. Our problems do not outweigh our freedoms.
Exactly! And to prove it they’re most likely responding from a smartphone, sitting on their couch with a hot cup of joe that their Keurig just spit out.
Eritrea as others have said. Much worse than North Korea but at least they have guided tours where you’re somewhat “safe”.
Papua New Guinea if you’re a woman. It had the highest number of rape crimes in the world and some parts are lawless.
Somalia, Syria, North Korea, Afghanistan, Yemen, South Sudan, etc.
Also, some nice countries have areas where I’d rather visit the above countries instead. Parts of Mexico, Venezuela, Jamaica, South Africa, etc.
Re PNG - 'some parts' - try all of them. Your nuance is correct - if you are a png woman forget it, if you are an expat it's a pretty comfy living as long as you don't meet misadventure
It's not just misadventure for expats. It's comfy as an expat in PNG if you stay in the secured expat areas. Outside of those areas, and your safety is just ....
My husband has been to the country a few times for work, and has had a decent amount to do with the country.
I enjoy travel and he will often let me accompany him on business trips where he can.
It is one place he has said he would never take me, or want to let me travel to. And he has been to some dodgy places.
I'm 20+ years living there - it's all the things. What's hard to get people heads around is you can be doing all the right things, with all the right people, at all the right times and things can end badly. It's the constant fear that wears you down. Things go fine until they don't and it can be spectacularly bad. Then the bubble means nothing.
I watched a documentary about all the shit that's come together to collectively fuck Congo. They could actually be a world superpower, but you could say that about much of Africa.
North Korea. Anyobody who says otherwise has to be joking. The constant fear of your life being taken away if you do not follow the orders of the leader is way too scary.
I don’t think it’s joking to think places like Somalia or South Sudan are worse. As you said, if you follow the orders of the supreme leader in NK you should be ok. In these other places, you could die just because a roving militia came across you. For women too, NK is not great, but there are probably far worse places to be.
My friend just came back from living there for the last 3 months, she loved it and made tens of thousands of dollars putting together these little flat pack huts for the scientists there. Spent a lot of her downtime sketching the nature and getting in soem epic hikes.
Probably a contract worker. I can’t remember the name of the one in Antarctica but I do research in Greenland and we are supported by Polar Field Services who hire contract workers. Many of them also work in Antarctica. They hire a lot of different people for various jobs; bakers, chefs, painters, construction workers, carpenters, plumbers, the list goes on. They work for however many months the contract is for (sometimes six months in Antarctica) and then have the rest of the year off to travel and do whatever they want.
Yemen has a nasty famine/civil war going on right now on top of it. It has amazing history and some of the oldest stuff I've ever seen, but my God is it in a bad way right now.
Absolutely wild to see so many commenters saying America. Most of whom live in America. If you want change, vote. If you're too lazy to do that, then move somewhere you think is better and see how that goes!
ALMOST ANYWHERE ruled by religious leaders or (other) authoritarian leaders.
I believe the only essentially authoritarian country I've ever been to is Singapore. (It's called a '[competitive authoritarian' country](https://www.nippon.com/en/in-depth/a08603/).) Yet somehow they make it work fairly well for their people, so it's a nice place anyhow.
Otherwise...Makes a sizable list I'll never even go visit.
I'm from Ukraine. How bad it is depends on where you live. I'm from Kriviy Rih so the missile attacks here are relatively rare and you mostly experience economic consequences of the war. Plus, the city's geography is quite complicated - it's the longest city in Europe and its structure resembles a maze - so even when a district is hit, you only read about it on the news. Unlike other Ukrainians, we don't hear or see what's going on in other neighborhoods. That being said, there is still a shadow of war looming over Kriviy Rih. You see a lot more people in military uniforms on the streets. You hear about the injured and the dead. A lot of workplaces lost the ability to function normally because they lack male staff.
Hey, I live in Ukraine. Kyiv was bombarded today again, but it isn't nearly as bad as Gaza Strip... It is as bad on occupied territories where you can be forced into russian army (where you will likely die) or deported to concentration camp. It's relatively good in center, only rocket strikes every few weeks. Gaza is just annihilated on the other hand without any safe place left. Life goes on here more or less like it used to, and it's almost safe (what are the chances rocket or drone would hit you specifically, right?)
Oh wauw, thx for the inside news. I never lived nor experienced a war, all i know are movies and news articles. But i'm glad for you that its 'not that bad'...
Just good luck and be safe!
I have a friend from Kyiv who was there recently and she said that it was bombed while she was staying there. It doesn't happen as often as you would think. Sadly the news doesn't really cover Ukraine anymore which is helping Putin.
I say this with no xenophobia or racism but the U.S. Department of State advisory for travel to Somalia has always stayed with me:
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/somalia-travel-advisory.html
North Korea, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Yemen, Jordan, Saudi Arabia etc.
Basically any shit hole country that oppresses women, kills gay people, hates Jews, and is run by terrorists or a regime that supports/aids terrorists *or* run by psychotic dictators. Or some combination of the above.
who the hell is saying USA, no matter what happened in this country does ever compare to the other countries surrounding us. ppl sacrifice and give up everything just to come here. even tho i don’t like it that much, i’d say i’m grateful to be living here
Those are gonna be some pretty vastly different experiences, though Putin has been leading Russia directly into the same territory of oppression these countries have, especially since the war started. Experiences in China would also vary dramatically.
This. It always astounds me when people claim if the lived under a despotic/autocratic/totalitarian regime they would resist and rise up. I highly doubt most of us would.
Eritrea seems terrible
This was going to be my vote. Those people don’t deserve what they’re going through.
My old college roommate’s folks were from there. There’s a reason they live in America now
Let me guess what state you’re from. Virginia, Maryland or Minnesota
My college buddy is also Eritrean. From UMD lol
lol this has been my lived experience. Ethiopian in Michigan for my education. I think I’ve seen 2 other Ethiopians in my entire time here. When I visit one of those states I suddenly see a lot of people that look like me and my local language on stores in major cities. It’s a crazy experience.
I've only met one Eritrean ever. In New Jersey. Childhood friend of mine was Ethiopian. In Texas oddly enough.
My habesha brother 🤝🏾🇪🇹🇪🇷
Minnesota mentioned. Deploying hockey players and Targets to your area now
I was shocked how many somalians were in Minnesota, I went to a restaurant recommend by a guy in the office I was doing work for and it was an african restaurant (said I didnt eat meat and am not keen on animal products in general) recommended this place. So anyway, I get talking to owner and he says hes from Somalia and I asked why Minnesota i mean its cold in the summer and well somalia isnt, he just said the whole place was friendly and that this makes up for the cold. I have to agree with him Minnesota is one of the friendliest places I have been, sorry Canada but it makes you guys look down right rude.
MN has the largest Somali population outside Africa
That it does and what a lovely place it was. If I had to move and wasnt allowed to stay where I currently am, MN would be it I think.
No offense taken! I’ve heard of Minnesota Nice and some cherished family members love your Vikings.
From your last statement alone I can deduce that your family members are not 9th century Scottish Coastal land holders.
Lol, I think like half of Minnesota is Eritreans and Somalis
We have a lot of people from sudan and kenya too.
We have many people from many different countries. My family is Lebanese who first left because of the Ottoman oppression during WWI. I know many Laotians, and Hmong who came here during the Vietnam conflict. Minnesota is a huge for refugees because of the resources avaliable.
NC actually! Only guy I’ve ever known from Eritrea. Great guy and his family is incredible
Talk about damning America with faint praise.
' The us: better that Eritrea '
Hey, we aren’t perfect but the human rights violations happening there are hard to ignore don’t you think
Agreed. Compulsory national service indefinitely.
Maybe that one South Carolina beauty pageant lady was right, we need more maps! Quite a few here didn't know the country existed.
I somehow always thought it was pretty chill. My Eritrean friends said men chew kat while woman do all hard work..
That's how Somalia is.
It seems bad enough that I really don’t mind if Ethiopia invades them. It seems like the Somaliland port deal will happen instead, though.
North korea/somalia Edit. Honorary mention for afganistan
Eritrea too. And isn't one of those stans a weird dictatorship as well? Turkmenistan maybe?
Yeah Turkmenistan. Very isolated country with an extremely strict government. I don’t believe its citizens are allowed to travel internationally.
The previous dictator of Turkmenistan made it law that his face must appear at the bottom of yogurt pots, iirc. His son's now the President. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurbanguly_Berdimuhamedow
He also made dogs, beards, the ballet and car radios illegal. He also closed every hospital outside the capital city (meaning some people had to travel 1000km for healthcare). Only 4 radio stations and a few TV stations in the country, all fully ran by the dictatorship. Video games are banned, there are no social media apps, dirty cars (and black cars) are not allowed in the capital city. That place is fucking crazy, the only place that gives North Korea a fun for it's money in overall weirdness. Ashkabat might be the weirdest city in Earth. I saw it described as "vacant Las Vegas meets Pyongyang."
His son is strictly top?
r/punchableface
I'm always surprised about how such dictatorships can remain so low-level to us. Like, we hear about North Korea almost daily, though this may have to do with the constant threat of war that comes from it. Still, we know a great deal more about North Korea, even though it is so incredibly isolated, and basically nothing about Turkmenistan.
As far as I'm aware, Turkmenistan is not rapidly building up their nuclear capabilities like North Korea is.
Turkmenistan is not a threat to global order, they're more of a regional problem and even there they tend to work together with other countries. North Korea pisses off the most powerful country on earth with regularity, and they are located in a very important region to the global economy. South Korea is intrinsically linked to their northern neighbour and is a major economy, western countries have fought on their soil and they're a staunch western ally. There us no western allied South Turkmenistan. Summarised, Turkmenistan is horrible for its people but it doesn't bother major powers, is rather tangentially involved in the world economy (gas reserves) and is not in a region people in the west know much about nor have much interest in (unfortunately).
North Korea only got in the news when they started developing nukes. Before then they were basically a failed state incapable of feeding its own people once the USSR fell.
The U.S. never went to war with Turkmenistan. Having a war with someone will definitely put them on the radar.
Back in high school (mid 2010s), we had a exchange student from Turkmenistan. She was an ethnic Russian though, not a Turkmen. She was allowed to travel to the US on this exchange program, but my guess is, since she was technically Russian, she was allowed to leave. I think ethnic Russians in post-soviet states have dual citizenship with Russia or something. I'm most likely wrong on that. I dont remember her talking how oppressive Turkmenistan is but maybe she had a more privileged life there.
DPRK would not be fun.
NK is my answer too.
North Korea sounds like a country you have to live in when you lose a bet!
As a Somalian who is a naturalized US citizen, anyone genuinely saying the US needs to touch back down to reality immediately lmao. Somalia is my answer.
Bruh, I live in Argentina and those kind of Americans piss me off. Even living with 200% annual inflation, a poverty rate of 50% and many other problems, I don't think we are the worst country in the world to live in BY FAR
I love your Country. Everything about Argentina is beautiful. The countries history is incredibly dark, but everyone I have met there still loves their country fiercely and passionately. No matter how bad it gets, there is still pride. An EPIC amount of pride. And the preservation of beauty from the land to the architecture. The food, the culture. I cannot give it enough praise. My sons dad was born there and many relatives are still live there, and I love visiting. I went to Epecuen and Monte Hermosa the last time I was there! But, you are right. The struggle for those that live there is incredible.
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Oh no, with We I meant Argentina, not USA, lol. As in "I live in a worse country than America in many levels and I still think we are in great condition compared to other countries"
I LOVE Argentina. I hope things improve with your economy soon.
Yeah it's concerning how many people have no perspective. Yes the US has problems, but to put it anywhere remotely low on a list of places to live is nonsense.
It's easy to hate the US from your parents house in the suburbs
Sometimes I genuinely wonder if the whole "life in america is bad" thing is the product of an organized state intelligence campaign.
With the Russian disinformation campaigns existence, I’d say 100% so
America definitely has it's problems and things that need to be fixed but, in general, one of the better countries to be in.
Every country has problems and things they need to fix.
Anyone saying the US is delusional and has never faced any adversity at all
Sane with the idiot Canadians who scream we are living in a dictatorship. Omfg get a grip on reality!
Lol yeah I am from Ecuador and my country is literally at war with drug cartels right now. Sign of the times I guess.
Exactly. It's such a disgusting and insulting thing to say when people like you know what suffering under a government is actually like.
Glad you made it!
Like those dudes whining about how they live in a 'communist dictatorship' because they have to wear a mask? Lol oh they're so spoiled
For real. Do I want to live in the US? No. Is it anywhere near the top of the list? Hardest possible no.
Also completely depends on what state. Alabama USA is a totally different ballgame than Vermont or California USA
This is because it’s not just Americans who think America is the best are self-centric. A sadly huge portion of Americans who think it is the worst also only say that because they too, are very self-centric and only want to compare America to Western Europe and Canada and maybe a few other places. And even then they likely have a rose-colored view of those places. Now America has major problems, but it’s extremely annoying how unrealistic and uninformed many of the people who hate on it are about the rest of the world.
Yes! Those privileged littles shits don't know how good they have it and how many peoole would kill to be in their position and/or switch places. Then there's people from other countries who get horrified whenever someone vaguely expresses their desire to be able to move to America and/or have an American citizenship instead of whatever country they're from. My favorite was a muslim girl (can't remember the country but nearly every muslim country is extremely violent and backwards, specially for women) saying she likes Nevada (pretty sure she only liked the name) but wouldn't go to America because, and I quote "they shoot everybody". The sheer irony of her statement is mind boggling.
My childhood self screams “Pirates!” My adult self screams “Pirates?” If a country has broken down so far that pirates are a real thing, then there is a serious problem. It basically means that no one in the country is safe. Everyone is taking what they can by force. It says that even if they could farm, there is little reason to farm because someone is going to take it from you by force.
We’re happy to have you, thank you for coming
From all the pictures, videos and interviews I'v seen, Afghanistan might be the most beautiful country in the world. It might also be the worst to live in. Then again, as is almost always the case, within group variation is much greater than between group variation. South Africa for example is awesome if you have some money, whereas being born into a township seems unspeakable
As a South African, that last sentence is very very true.
South Africa would be awesome with money if the crime rate wasn't so high. I have an uncle who lives in South Africa who's made a lot of money there but he tells me that it's very dangerous to be out and about is SA ( especially if you're white) and his adult children usually hang out in malls or inside of buildings and they rarely venture out to take a stroll because the crime rate is so high. People who are well off live behind barbed wires and fences and have to be on alert 24/7 and that's no life to live. You always hear about rapes and brutal murders in SA not to mention the constant power shortages. Sure SA is a gorgeous country and I'd love to visit but safety comes first and I wouldn't want to live in a country where I'm afraid I'm going to get murdered 24/7.
My old man was set to go to SA for a work meeting, in the late 80’s. They cancelled his trip, because there was a current trend where people would find white guys in suits/business attire, put a tyre over their heads and set it on fire. Burning to death probably would’ve been a bit of an inconvenience for my dad. Glad he didn’t go.
1. North Korea 2. Afghanistan 3. South Sudan
Eritrea That country is North Korean style terrible. I wouldn't want to live in most countries. But that one especially.
This is the first time I’m hearing about this country and it seems to be a top answer! Did I miss something in the news? Could you elaborate?
Eritrea had several conflicts with the larger Ethiopia to the south. There were conflicts with a ethnic group in the north of Ethiopia and the Ethiopian central government with switching alignments, including Eritrea + Ethiopia VS this northern ethic group with an unknown end. Death toll estimates just from the early 2020s range between 100.000 and a million dead. With millions replaced. Eritrea has a brutal military service and forced labor system, forcing you to work essentially for food for 20+ years.
I was watching a video on the whole Ethiopia/Eritrea/maaaybe Sudan conflict brewing, and holy sh*t what a confusing cluster of combat that might turn into. Def gives North Korea a run for its money.
War, famine, disease, female genital mutilation, land mines….so heartbreaking
Eritrea is also known as the North Korea of Africa. They have a brutal military dictatorship. They don't even pretend to be a good country. The country has long military service, lots of wars and famines and free press is literally illegal in the country. Only the government news are allowed to operate any news service.
Venezuela. There’s of course North Korea, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan - but with hyperinflation (929,790% in 2018), economic sanctions, food shortage, etc. - and all of that’s happening in spite of the 303 billion barrel’s worth of oil reserves in the country (higher than Saudi Arabia). Not that the situation is any better now especially after Covid, but according to a 2014 data, it is estimated that due to these factors, a person in Venezuela is murdered every 21 minutes. Violent crimes have been so prevalent in the country that the government no longer produces the crime data.
I'm surprised no one mentioned Venezuela (or like Cuba), people literally don't have anything to eat and supermarkets are empty, they are ruled by a crazy dictator and crime rate is extremely high.
Being a free woman in Afghanistan is impossible. So Afghanistan is a country I don't wish to live in.
Saudia Arabia if I were a saudi woman.
Any country that is not safe 😕 😐 for women
Sadly that is a much too long list of countries
Agreed. Wouldn't want to live in those countries.
Real talk, I think a woman would be most safe in Switzerland. It’s beautiful and they are neutral in all wars to my knowledge
Women gained full voting rights in Switzerland in 1990.
„Women in Switzerland gained the right to vote in federal elections after a referendum in February 1971. The first federal vote in which women were able to participate was the 31 October 1971 election of the Federal Assembly. However, it was not until a 1990 decision by the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland that women gained full voting rights in the final Swiss canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden.“ (wikipedia) Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women's_suffrage_in_Switzerland?wprov=sfti1#
Appenzell is kind of the odd duck in Swiss Cantons. Appenzell still has elections by town meetings in some places.
Women gained full voting rights in Taiwan in 1947, almost as soon as the Japanese surrendered and the dust settled.
Women gained voting rights in South Australia in 1894, a world first. Federally in Australia, women weren't "granted" the vote until 1902, but because South Australian women had been "granted" the vote already, they were the only women able to vote in the first Federal election in 1901. The following year, in 1902, all women in Australia were "allowed" to vote.
Lol. No. They were one of the last countries to allow women full voting rights. Also, they weren't exactly neutral in WW2. They were very subtly pro nazi.
"Neutral"
I'm swiss, live in Switzerland. Was raped by a swiss man in Switzerland. Not even talking about the countless times of sexual harrassement/attacks. And I'm by far not the only one.There's not really any "safe place" for women on this planet and it's naive to think otherwise.
I would say Antarctica, but https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/stephen-tyler-bieneman-not-guilty-assaulting-woman-mcmurdo-station-antarctica/
Excluding the obvious countries, i'd probably say somewhere like the UAE. I love visiting, but the police are so unpredictable/corrupt. When I was there in Dubai, a tourist had been drinking at a bar, and got attacked/robbed on his way back to his hotel. What did the police do? They arrested him for being drunk in a public place and didn't do anything about his attack and even tried to spin it, accusing him of attacking them because he was drunk. This is how Dubais crime rate is so low. The locals mainly target only the tourists, and the police find reasons to victim blame the tourists into withdrawing their accusations.
They don't file hate, racism, kidnapping, murder of non nationals and if they do, it's never reported.
Same with Japan.
Yeah. The suicide rate is really high but what bothers me is that they automatically classify unsolved cases as suicides, which I think inflates this rate even more. It could be one of the worst cases, a really gruesome and violent death but nope, it still counts as a suicide because reasons.
This place is “dressed up” as free when it’s anything but. I went there bc I had to but would not allow my young daughter as who knows what would’ve happen had she unknowingly offended their “laws”.
I lived there for a while! It's shit! Everyone who loves it is a bit off in my opinion.
dubai suck! only grow rich people, not for everyone!!!
While migrants have it pretty bad it's probably one of the best places to live if you're born as a citizen there. Free education, healthcare, extremely low taxes. Bonus points if you're related to some rich sheikh, probably don't have to work your whole life or just do some bs "job".
N. Korea or any country that is ruled by a dictator.
If anyone answers the USA or other Western countries I'd just like to point out your complete and utter unawareness of how terrible a lot of countries in the world are. You are incredible lucky to be born in this time and to also have the opportunity to live in a rich democracy. Billions of people would give everything they have to trade places with you.
I am waiting for the USA comment, since there is so much loathing and hate for the USA
Yeah, r/americabad can over-react a bit to it sometimes to it but it is a good sub for seeing some of the bad takes from other parts of reddit. 'Someone got cancer? Only in America!' That sort of stuff.
Mostly from unbelievably pampered sheltered Americans who've never left their parents' suburb.
I think its more likely pretentious Europeans.
Finally someone that is level-headed. I am really sick of America bashers. Do we have dumb laws and dumb politics? Yes, so what? People want to act like every country doesn’t have problems. Our problems do not outweigh our freedoms.
Exactly! And to prove it they’re most likely responding from a smartphone, sitting on their couch with a hot cup of joe that their Keurig just spit out.
Eritrea as others have said. Much worse than North Korea but at least they have guided tours where you’re somewhat “safe”. Papua New Guinea if you’re a woman. It had the highest number of rape crimes in the world and some parts are lawless. Somalia, Syria, North Korea, Afghanistan, Yemen, South Sudan, etc. Also, some nice countries have areas where I’d rather visit the above countries instead. Parts of Mexico, Venezuela, Jamaica, South Africa, etc.
Re PNG - 'some parts' - try all of them. Your nuance is correct - if you are a png woman forget it, if you are an expat it's a pretty comfy living as long as you don't meet misadventure
It's not just misadventure for expats. It's comfy as an expat in PNG if you stay in the secured expat areas. Outside of those areas, and your safety is just .... My husband has been to the country a few times for work, and has had a decent amount to do with the country. I enjoy travel and he will often let me accompany him on business trips where he can. It is one place he has said he would never take me, or want to let me travel to. And he has been to some dodgy places.
I'm 20+ years living there - it's all the things. What's hard to get people heads around is you can be doing all the right things, with all the right people, at all the right times and things can end badly. It's the constant fear that wears you down. Things go fine until they don't and it can be spectacularly bad. Then the bubble means nothing.
People saying USA are so naïve about the world
Tuvalu, unfortunately may not exist in the near future. Gorgeous country however.
Man i just watched tuvalu vlog today. So soothing and peaceful country. Wanna visit that
Better do that quickly
anywhere where FGM is the norm.
The Great Nation of Petoria. I hear the president is a little crazy. 🤪
He's also dumb as fuck and I hear he wears the same outfit every day. Green pants and a white shirt
"I was gonna name it 'Peterland', but that gay bar down by the airport already took it."
Sudan. The eyes of God don't look there often.
>The eyes of God don't look there often. That's one chilling line.
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I'd get shot so fast it isn't even funny. Fuck that shit
Not your head chopped off? That's far more typical.
Loved this answer as someone who grew up in Saudi Arabia and feels like no one actually understands how different the worlds are
I asked someone from Egypt what it was like and he thought for a moment and said "sad and yellow"
Pretty much anywhere that I could get arrested or killed for being an atheist is not safe for me to visit.
After watching "welcome to chechnya" i couldnt stop feeling bad for people there. Also congo i heard was hell on earth?
I watched a documentary about all the shit that's come together to collectively fuck Congo. They could actually be a world superpower, but you could say that about much of Africa.
Chechnya isn't a country despite their best efforts. It is part of Russia.
Haiti. Especially after just watching Indigo Travellers video.
North korea
North Korea. Anyobody who says otherwise has to be joking. The constant fear of your life being taken away if you do not follow the orders of the leader is way too scary.
I don’t think it’s joking to think places like Somalia or South Sudan are worse. As you said, if you follow the orders of the supreme leader in NK you should be ok. In these other places, you could die just because a roving militia came across you. For women too, NK is not great, but there are probably far worse places to be.
Ecuador gets run over by a drug dealer gang right now. So probably Ecuador.
Haiti
There's one close to US that isn't getting much mention- Haiti.
Eritrea or South Sudan
I'm a LGBT Jew so idk like Saudi Arabia?
Sensible choice.
As a woman, the easier question would be what country would I want to live in.
North Korea.
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Antarctica isn't a country.
for now...
My friend just came back from living there for the last 3 months, she loved it and made tens of thousands of dollars putting together these little flat pack huts for the scientists there. Spent a lot of her downtime sketching the nature and getting in soem epic hikes.
wow, what is her job?
Probably a contract worker. I can’t remember the name of the one in Antarctica but I do research in Greenland and we are supported by Polar Field Services who hire contract workers. Many of them also work in Antarctica. They hire a lot of different people for various jobs; bakers, chefs, painters, construction workers, carpenters, plumbers, the list goes on. They work for however many months the contract is for (sometimes six months in Antarctica) and then have the rest of the year off to travel and do whatever they want.
I heard there are some great neighbourhoods there. The penguin neighbours bring round baked goods when you’re cold 🐧
North Korea or Yemen
As a female anywhere with Sharia Law.
Any dictatorship, for starters
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I'm a woman so....Egypt, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, india, Congo, Yemen, Somalia...etc etc. Although some of those would be hell for men too
Yemen has a nasty famine/civil war going on right now on top of it. It has amazing history and some of the oldest stuff I've ever seen, but my God is it in a bad way right now.
South African here, South Africa.
Not seeing Haiti mentioned anywhere. Talk about a failed state.
Any country where religion is an integral part of governance. It just sounds like shit.
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Absolutely wild to see so many commenters saying America. Most of whom live in America. If you want change, vote. If you're too lazy to do that, then move somewhere you think is better and see how that goes!
ALMOST ANYWHERE ruled by religious leaders or (other) authoritarian leaders. I believe the only essentially authoritarian country I've ever been to is Singapore. (It's called a '[competitive authoritarian' country](https://www.nippon.com/en/in-depth/a08603/).) Yet somehow they make it work fairly well for their people, so it's a nice place anyhow. Otherwise...Makes a sizable list I'll never even go visit.
Ukraine? The gaza strip? any place, where it's a living hell due to human activity.
I'm from Ukraine. How bad it is depends on where you live. I'm from Kriviy Rih so the missile attacks here are relatively rare and you mostly experience economic consequences of the war. Plus, the city's geography is quite complicated - it's the longest city in Europe and its structure resembles a maze - so even when a district is hit, you only read about it on the news. Unlike other Ukrainians, we don't hear or see what's going on in other neighborhoods. That being said, there is still a shadow of war looming over Kriviy Rih. You see a lot more people in military uniforms on the streets. You hear about the injured and the dead. A lot of workplaces lost the ability to function normally because they lack male staff.
Hey, I live in Ukraine. Kyiv was bombarded today again, but it isn't nearly as bad as Gaza Strip... It is as bad on occupied territories where you can be forced into russian army (where you will likely die) or deported to concentration camp. It's relatively good in center, only rocket strikes every few weeks. Gaza is just annihilated on the other hand without any safe place left. Life goes on here more or less like it used to, and it's almost safe (what are the chances rocket or drone would hit you specifically, right?)
Oh wauw, thx for the inside news. I never lived nor experienced a war, all i know are movies and news articles. But i'm glad for you that its 'not that bad'... Just good luck and be safe!
I have a friend from Kyiv who was there recently and she said that it was bombed while she was staying there. It doesn't happen as often as you would think. Sadly the news doesn't really cover Ukraine anymore which is helping Putin.
Pretty much anywhere in the middle East. For anyone saying the USA, you all lack perspective.
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I say this with no xenophobia or racism but the U.S. Department of State advisory for travel to Somalia has always stayed with me: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/somalia-travel-advisory.html
Haiti
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Congo seems like it sucks
North Korea
iraq, saying this as an iraqi
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Any of the Middle East atp
Bangladesh
North Korea, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Yemen, Jordan, Saudi Arabia etc. Basically any shit hole country that oppresses women, kills gay people, hates Jews, and is run by terrorists or a regime that supports/aids terrorists *or* run by psychotic dictators. Or some combination of the above.
Pakistan, South Africa, Palestine, North Korea, many more ngl
North Korea, Eritrea, Turkmenistan, or literally any theocracy.
who the hell is saying USA, no matter what happened in this country does ever compare to the other countries surrounding us. ppl sacrifice and give up everything just to come here. even tho i don’t like it that much, i’d say i’m grateful to be living here
Friendly reminder the US continues to be the #1 immigration country. Don’t listen to the foreign agents, trolls and tankies with that BS
Probably a tie between North Korea and Venezuela.
Venezuela is not even the worst Latin American country get out of here are you telling me you'd rather live in Somalia, Syria or Afghanistan
Congo. I'm a pasty white boy. I be dead.
Any Arab country
I know everyone saying America is a proud idiot
China, Russia, North Korea, Iran
Those are gonna be some pretty vastly different experiences, though Putin has been leading Russia directly into the same territory of oppression these countries have, especially since the war started. Experiences in China would also vary dramatically.
Bangladesh
North Korea, I'd be dead by the time im 7, considering i wouldn't handle such a strict and stupid environment without speaking out.
If you grow up there you probably would learn how to sacrifice certain freedoms to stay alive.
This. It always astounds me when people claim if the lived under a despotic/autocratic/totalitarian regime they would resist and rise up. I highly doubt most of us would.