Travel Risk Atlas

Australia

Australia and New Zealand · Capital Canberra

Level 1 United States Exercise Normal Precautions FCDO United Kingdom No advisory against travel Green Netherlands Green — you can travel Level 1 Canada Take normal security precautions AA Germany No warning in force

Each opens that government's own advisory for Australia — the authoritative version, updated far faster than this page.

11.2 Very low risk
Atlas Risk Score · 21st safest of 220
sydney opera house near body of water during daytime
Photo: Caleb / Unsplash

Australia is a safe country where the things that actually hurt visitors are the sun, the sea and the driving — not crime, and not the wildlife it is famous for. Drowning and road crashes kill far more tourists here than anything with fangs.

The other reliable trap is distance. Australia is the size of Europe with the population of a large city, and people underestimate what that means for a day's drive, for phone coverage and for how long help takes.

Where the risk actually is

Risk is rarely spread evenly across a country. The base colour is the code the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs gives Australia as a whole; shaded regions are those the UK Foreign Office names in an advisory against travel.

Australian Capital Territory — No specific warningJervis Bay Territory — No specific warningNew South Wales — No specific warningNew South Wales — No specific warningNorthern Territory — No specific warningNorthern Territory — No specific warningNorthern Territory — No specific warningNorthern Territory — No specific warningNorthern Territory — No specific warningNorthern Territory — No specific warningNorthern Territory — No specific warningNorthern Territory — No specific warningNorthern Territory — No specific warningNorthern Territory — No specific warningNorthern Territory — No specific warningNorthern Territory — No specific warningNorthern Territory — No specific warningNorthern Territory — No specific warningNorthern Territory — No specific warningNorthern Territory — No specific warningNorthern Territory — No specific warningNorthern Territory — No specific warningNorthern Territory — No specific warningNorthern Territory — No specific warningNorthern Territory — No specific warningNorthern Territory — No specific warningNorthern Territory — No specific warningNorthern Territory — No specific warningNorthern Territory — No specific warningNorthern Territory — No specific warningNorthern Territory — No specific warningNorthern Territory — No specific warningNorthern Territory — No specific warningQueensland — No specific warningQueensland — No specific warningQueensland — No specific warningQueensland — No specific warningQueensland — No specific warningQueensland — No specific warningQueensland — No specific warningQueensland — No specific warningQueensland — No specific warningQueensland — No specific warningQueensland — No specific warningQueensland — No specific warningQueensland — No specific warningQueensland — No specific warningQueensland — No specific warningQueensland — No specific warningQueensland — No specific warningQueensland — No specific warningQueensland — No specific warningQueensland — No specific warningQueensland — No specific warningQueensland — No specific warningQueensland — No specific warningQueensland — No specific warningQueensland — No specific warningQueensland — No specific warningQueensland — No specific warningQueensland — No specific warningSouth Australia — No specific warningSouth Australia — No specific warningSouth Australia — No specific warningSouth Australia — No specific warningSouth Australia — No specific warningSouth Australia — No specific warningSouth Australia — No specific warningTasmania — No specific warningTasmania — No specific warningTasmania — No specific warningTasmania — No specific warningTasmania — No specific warningTasmania — No specific warningTasmania — No specific warningTasmania — No specific warningTasmania — No specific warningTasmania — No specific warningTasmania — No specific warningTasmania — No specific warningVictoria — No specific warningVictoria — No specific warningVictoria — No specific warningVictoria — No specific warningWestern Australia — No specific warningWestern Australia — No specific warningWestern Australia — No specific warningWestern Australia — No specific warningWestern Australia — No specific warningWestern Australia — No specific warningWestern Australia — No specific warningWestern Australia — No specific warningWestern Australia — No specific warningWestern Australia — No specific warningWestern Australia — No specific warningWestern Australia — No specific warningWestern Australia — No specific warningWestern Australia — No specific warningWestern Australia — No specific warningLake ArgyleBurrendong ReservoirLake Eyre NorthLake DisappointmentLake MackayLake GairdnerLake TorrensLake FromeLake BarleeLake Eyre SouthLake AmadeusLake CarnegieLake MooreLake CareyLake EverardLake NealeLake WellsLake BallardLake GoongarrieLake CowanLake PedderLake Gordon
What governments advise No specific warning

Overseas territories, shown separately so the main map stays readable

Macquarie Island — No specific warning
Macquarie Island
Lord Howe Island — No specific warning
Lord Howe Island

What the warnings actually cover

  • Whole country — No specific warning. No government currently advises against travel to any part of this country. The colour reflects general caution levels only, not a warned area.

Shading marks whole regions named in an advisory, but a warning is often narrower — a border strip, one road, or a single city. Read the wording, and check the official advisory linked below.

What drives the score

Each pillar is scored 0–100 against every other country. Longer bar = more risk.

Natural hazards
10% of score · mainly drought, tsunami, flooding, cyclones
47/100
162nd of 220
Political stability
10% of score
17/100
14th of 220
Crime
15% of score
11/100
16th of 220
Road & transport
10% of score
10/100
31st of 220
Health & medical
15% of score
8/100
36th of 220
Conflict & terrorism
15% of score
6/100
54th of 220
Official advisories
25% of score
0/100
20th of 220
Women's safety
not in the score
62/100

Biggest factor here: natural hazards. Earthquakes, floods, cyclones, drought and tsunami exposure.

Practical facts

The things worth knowing before you land.

Emergency number
000
112 works from mobiles
Currency
AUD $
€1 ≈ 1.64 AUD
Languages
English
Visa (EU passport)
eTA required
US: eTA required · UK: eTA required
Population
27.6m
World Bank 2025
Capital
Canberra
Driving
On the left
4.9 road deaths per 100k
Power
Type I
220-240V
Basic water access
100%
Widely available · of residents, not a tap-water verdict
Dialling code
+61
GDP per capita
$65k
A rough guide to price levels
Visitors a year
9.5m
International arrivals, 2019

When to go

Average daytime high and nightly low for Canberra, over 2010-2019. Bars are rainfall; the colour band is how hot the days get.

Mildest and driest around October to April.

Daytime high mild warm hot
Top figure is the average daytime high, below it the average nightly low, and millimetres of rain under each bar. Figures are the average daytime high; bar heights are the month's rainfall. Shaded months are the mild, drier ones. Source: NASA POWER daily observations, 2010-2019, public domain. Australia is big. These numbers describe Canberra only — elsewhere in the country can be nothing like it.

Common scams in Australia

Patterns reported repeatedly by travellers and local police. None of this is about individual businesses — it's about set-ups you can learn to spot in seconds.

Undeclared food at the border

All international arrivalsVery common

Not a scam — the most common way visitors get fined. Australia's biosecurity rules are among the strictest anywhere, and failing to declare food, seeds, wooden items or anything of animal or plant origin brings an on-the-spot fine, with visa cancellation possible for serious cases.

How to avoid it: Declare everything, including snacks in your hand luggage. Declaring is free and costs nothing but a question; not declaring is the expensive option.

Sources Australian Border Force — what you cannot bring in

Working-holiday job and accommodation scams

Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, regional farm workCommon

Backpackers are charged fees for jobs that do not exist, asked for bonds on rooms sight-unseen, or underpaid well below the legal minimum on regional farms in exchange for visa sign-off.

How to avoid it: No legitimate Australian employer charges to give you a job. Check pay against the Fair Work Ombudsman's rates and never transfer a bond before seeing a property.

Sources Scamwatch — Australian government scam reporting

Risk hotspots

Specific places that come up again and again — either in government advisories or in traveller reports. Everywhere else in Australia is not automatically fine, but these are the areas worth a plan.

Unpatrolled beaches Natural hazard

Rip currents are the single biggest killer of visitors. Beaches without flags have no one watching, and most of the coastline has no patrol at all.

Tropical north in stinger season Natural hazard

Box jellyfish and irukandji from about November to May in Queensland and the Northern Territory. Saltwater crocodiles are present year-round in rivers and estuaries.

Outback driving Traffic

Hundreds of kilometres between services, no phone signal, kangaroos at dawn and dusk, and heat that turns a breakdown into an emergency.

Bushfire season Natural hazard

Roughly October to March in the south. Fires move faster than people expect; follow state emergency apps and never enter a closed park.

Rips, not sharks

Rip currents are the leading cause of tourist deaths in Australian waters and kill more people than sharks, crocodiles and snakes combined. A rip looks like the calmest patch of water — darker, flatter, less foam — which is exactly why swimmers choose it.

Swim between the red and yellow flags on a patrolled beach, and only there. If caught, do not swim against it: float, raise an arm, and let it carry you out until it releases, then swim parallel to the shore.

In the tropical north, box jellyfish and irukandji make the sea unsafe from roughly November to May. Stinger nets and vinegar stations exist for a reason, and saltwater crocodiles inhabit rivers and estuaries well inland — obey the signs absolutely.

Sun and distance

Australia has among the highest skin cancer rates on earth and a UV index that reaches extreme levels in a way northern visitors have no intuition for. Burns happen in under fifteen minutes in summer.

Driving: outback routes run hundreds of kilometres between fuel with no mobile coverage, kangaroos are most active at dawn and dusk and cause serious crashes, and road-train trucks need enormous overtaking room. Carry water — vehicle breakdowns in the interior have killed people.

Sources for this page

Vaccinations, malaria and outbreaks. This atlas does not give medical advice — it is personal, it changes, and it is the one thing worth getting from a doctor. Both national services publish current advice for Australia:

CDC Travelers' HealthTravelHealthPro (NHS/UKHSA)

Check the official advisory before you book. This page reflects data as of August 2026. Advisories change without warning, and only your own government's advice affects your travel insurance.