About this project
World Emergency & Hotlines is a public directory of listed crisis, emergency, and support services across countries and territories. Coverage, source information, and verification status vary and are shown per record. We think nobody should have to search in a panic.
If you're in crisis right now
Call your country's emergency number. In most of Europe: 112. US/Canada: 911. UK: 999. Australia: 000. Emergency numbers and access without a SIM vary by country, device, carrier, and network; verify local guidance.
For crisis support: find a crisis line →
How to use this site
- Search by country, category, or service name (e.g. "Italy domestic violence", "UK childline", "Canada veterans"). Use the filter chips to narrow to verified-only, SMS-accessible, or online-chat services.
- Browse by category — see all 29 categorieswith counts and verification coverage.
- Explore the map — click any country to see all local numbers and crisis lines.
- Country pages show hotlines grouped by category, with a prioritized listing panel at the top and a traveller note about international dialling.
How verification works
Every hotline record carries a verification status. It describes the evidence checked for this directory, not whether a line was test-called, answered, or available in real time.
The listed details appeared on the organisation's official website when checked. This is not a live availability check.
The listed details appeared in an authoritative source such as a government body when checked.
Checked against a trusted reference source, but not necessarily the provider's own page.
Found in multiple independent sources but not yet confirmed against the provider or responsible authority.
From an earlier dataset. Has not been independently confirmed. Please check the organisation's official website before relying on this number.
Conflicting information found. Treat with caution — the number may be wrong.
Believed to be no longer active. Included for reference.
Coverage and checked dates
A country can have national coverage while still lacking a verified local or specialist option. City, county, state/province, national, and global service areas are shown separately where the source supports them. A “source checked” date records when the cited page supported the listed details; it does not promise current opening hours, wait time, eligibility, or that the service answered a test contact.
If a local option is unavailable, the directory may show a broader regional or national fallback. Report disconnected numbers, changed hours, scope errors, closures, or other concerns from the relevant service card.
Prioritized routing
On each country page, the site selects the first source-checked or cross-referenced listing in this category order: suicide crisis, mental health, domestic violence, sexual violence, child protection, then general support. If none matches, it selects the first listing in the same category order, then the first dataset listing.
This deterministic ordering does not determine suitability, eligibility, live availability, or provide medical advice. Search uses separate deterministic scoring; filter chips can restrict results to source-checked or channel-specific services.
Travellers & expats
Most freephone/toll-free numbers require a local SIM or network connection for the country. If you're abroad:
- Use the relevant country page and verify the local emergency number and carrier or SIM requirements.
- Look for hotlines with online chat (💬) — these work internationally over Wi-Fi.
- SMS-based lines (📱) may also work internationally depending on your roaming plan.
- Local authorities or accommodation staff may be able to suggest current contacts, but verify any details they provide.
Privacy
The search runs entirely in your browser — your search terms and results never leave your device. No queries are logged. The emergency banner reads your browser language setting only (no server call, no location). We don't use tracking cookies or analytics that identify individuals.
Maintainer and editorial responsibility
This directory is maintained through the public craigrallen/world-emergency-hotlines GitHub project. Maintainers review cited evidence and proposed changes; inclusion does not imply affiliation, endorsement, or a provider relationship. Reviews occur as maintainers process contributions and corrections, without a promised publication cadence.
To correct or remove a listing, use the correction form linked below and include a public source when possible. Reports of disconnected numbers, changed scope, or safety concerns can also be filed as GitHub issues. Maintainers may amend, dispute, deprecate, or remove a record after reviewing the available evidence.
Public data access & contributing
The dataset is publicly accessible from the data pagein JSON format. The repository currently has no license, so access does not itself grant reuse rights. Public submissions are review leads, not verified records, and publication is not guaranteed.