Global Peace Index 2025
I’ve definitely experienced huge improvements in public safety since moving here around the year 2000. The Portuguese are naturally even-tempered, and though I never felt that my life was in danger, the feeling in the immigrant communities was markedly different back then. You could see young people shooting up heroin on a narrow staircase landing leading to a parking area, or people just lying around with vacant stares in the plazas and streets. Apparently theft was rampant in those areas too.
The Portuguese government then issued a serious crackdown to improve public safety, including increased police patrols and stricter monitoring of public spaces. Lisbon in particular pushed for urban public safety improvements as part of its Segurança em Lisboa strategy. The plan included legally-required systemization of urban renewal efforts, which transformed parks and plazas into places where families and tourists could feel safe and secure.
The government continues to push these measures today, and if you see someone suspicious, you can find a nearby police officer keeping watch. There is improved lighting in parks and other areas, with new spaces set up for kids to play in, walking paths, and bicycle/electric scooter lanes.
Quick Silver Skate Park (Ericeira)
Extreme Sports Park (Cascais)
The prostitutes that once hung around Monsanto Park and the streets of Lisbon are now nowhere to be found. The bars they would frequent have been transformed into café-style bars that are popular with tourists, while still retaining hints of a different past. Even less savory was the Rua Nova do Carvalho, once lined with brothels and bars and known as “Danger Street”. They’ve since repainted the road a bold shade of pink and are trying to rebrand it to a global audience as a safe nightlife spot called “Pink Street”.
Rua Nova do Carvalho, or “Pink Street”
Whenever I go near Rua Nova do Carvalho, it brings to mind a friend of mine who was involved in providing support for those involved in the sex trade. He’s a mental health counselor who drove around Monsanto Park night after night, offering protection for any prostitutes he saw along with counseling services to help them rebuild their lives. He also went out with a group that handed out condoms to people attending large outdoor concerts or festivals. It might not sound like much, but I believe that efforts like this are what helped turn the city around.
These are just some of the ways that ongoing investment in peaceful social development and domestic safety, coupled with a lot of hard work, greatly improved public spaces in Portugal. These efforts have resulted in a deep feeling of safety in everyday life—even more so than our GPI ranking would indicate.
Interestingly, Japan is ranked 12th, moving up four places from last year. The lowest-ranking countries in the 2025 GPI were Russia, followed by Ukraine. Looking over the numbers, I’m reminded that while safety is the result of social choices and accumulated efforts, it’s also something that can fall apart rapidly in today’s world of unending conflict.
