🇦🇿 Republic of Azerbaijan (Azərbaycan)
Visiting: Risky
Take care in Azerbaijan: the risks are real. Its best measures are only mid-range: violent crime is moderate, ranking 66th, and women's safety is fair, at 97th. Where it lags is freedom, which is tightly restricted, placed 160th. There is some exposure to conflict, LGBT rights are held back by police raids and arrests and the roads are hazardous, with all three ranking between 99th and 124th.
Homicide
Intentional homicides per 100,000 people — lower is better.
Azerbaijan: 2.0
Ranked 66th in the world for the lowest homicide rate.
Why this rank?
Two killings per 100,000 people a year is low but twice the one-per-100,000 mark where the safest countries sit.
Is it safe to visit?
Fine for a visitor. Well below the world average.
Road Fatalities
Road-traffic deaths per 100,000 people per year — lower is better.
Azerbaijan: 17.2
Ranked 57th in the world for the deadliest roads.
Why this rank?
Seventeen deaths per 100,000 people a year is above the world average of fifteen, though well short of double it.
Is it safe to visit?
Not safe, in a car or on foot. Four in ten deaths are pedestrians.
Conflict
Conflict deaths inside the country in the last twelve months, as recorded by the Uppsala conflict database, civilians killed on purpose, and any UN sanctions or court order over a war. The worst of those sets the colour. Lower is better.
Azerbaijan: 1.88
Ranked 82nd most conflict-affected country in the world.
Why this rank?
No conflict death is recorded in Azerbaijan in the year to July 2026. The last one the Uppsala conflict database has was in September 2023, in the offensive that took Nagorno-Karabakh.
Is it safe to visit?
Reasonable. Nothing is recorded since September 2023, when the fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh ended, and the border with Armenia is quiet.
Freedom
Six freedoms rated 0–4 by Freedom House — protest, speech, press, religion, movement and due process. The weakest rating sets the colour, and the total places the country inside it — higher is better.
Azerbaijan: 2.10
Ranked 21st least free country in the world.
Why this rank?
In Azerbaijan due process is rated 0, meaning absent, so the courts offer no protection if anything goes wrong. Total 2 of 24.
Is it safe to visit?
Courts offer no protection. Power has sat with one family since 2003, the opposition has been persecuted for years, and the crackdown on civil liberties has filled prisons with political prisoners.
LGBT Rights
LGBT equality in law and daily life — higher is better.
Azerbaijan: Crackdown
Ranked 63rd least equal in the world for LGBT people.
Why this rank?
Homosexuality is legal but wholly unprotected. In January 2026 police raided a Baku venue and detained more than a hundred people, with reports of torture and extortion.
Is it safe to visit?
High Risk. Police round-ups target LGBT people, nothing operates openly, and detainees have described beatings and forced medical tests.
Women's Safety
Women's safety — feeling safe out at night, political violence against women, a fair hearing in court, and how normal violence at home is, with the night figure setting a floor on the colour — higher is better.
Azerbaijan: 7.06
Ranked 84th least safe country in the world for women.
Why this rank?
Sixty-two percent of women feel safe out alone at night, no attacks on women are recorded, and partner violence is five percent. The courts, rated poor for women, account for nearly the whole loss.
Is it safe to visit?
For a woman travelling alone, Azerbaijan is a reasonable choice.