Is Paraguay safe?

This is one of the first questions people ask, and it deserves a straight answer with real numbers — not "don't worry about it."

The headline numbers

Paraguay carries a U.S. State Department Level 1 travel advisory ("Exercise Normal Precautions") — the same rating as Argentina, and the best rating given to any country in South America. Its homicide rate is around 6.2 per 100,000, lower than Brazil (21.1), Colombia (25.4), and Uruguay (11.2), and comparable to Chile. On the 2026 Global Peace Index, Paraguay ranks among the top handful of South American countries, alongside Uruguay, Costa Rica, Chile, and Argentina.

What that looks like day to day

Violent crime against foreigners is rare, and most of what does occur is between people who know each other. The more common risk for expats is petty theft — phone snatching, opportunistic break-ins — concentrated in specific areas, not spread evenly across the city. Established expat neighborhoods in Asunción (Villa Morra, Carmelitas, Recoleta, Las Lomas) see mostly this lower-level petty crime, with a visible police presence and gated developments common.

The honest caveats

We're not going to only tell you the good parts. Paraguay's Corruption Perceptions Index ranking is weak (154th out of 180 countries) — bureaucratic and institutional corruption is a real feature of the country, even if it rarely affects a resident's personal safety directly. Road safety is a genuine risk: a large share of traffic accidents involve motorcycles. Some areas — certain parts of Ciudad del Este, central areas at night, and specific border departments — are best avoided or approached with normal urban caution, same as any city.

The bottom line

Paraguay isn't a "nothing ever happens here" bubble, but by the numbers, it's genuinely one of the safer countries in South America — safer than several destinations that get more attention for it. Normal precautions, the right neighborhood, and basic Spanish go a long way.