🇧🇭 Kingdom of Bahrain (البحرين)
Visiting: Take care
Bahrain is generally safe, with a few caveats. Violent crime is close to non-existent, the 5th-lowest homicide rate, and road deaths are low, at 56th. Its weakest measure is freedom, which is tightly restricted, placed 142nd. Women's safety is fair, ranking 78th, LGBT rights are limited, at 90th, and there is some exposure to conflict, placed 119th.
Homicide
Intentional homicides per 100,000 people — lower is better.
Bahrain: 0.2
Ranked 5th in the world for the lowest homicide rate.
Why this rank?
A fifth of a killing per 100,000 people a year is about as low as a rate can go and far under the one that marks the safest countries.
Is it safe to visit?
As safe as it gets for a visitor. Bahrain's newest count, from 2022, is almost nothing.
Road Fatalities
Road-traffic deaths per 100,000 people per year — lower is better.
Bahrain: 8.1
Ranked 56th in the world for the safest roads.
Why this rank?
Eight deaths per 100,000 people a year is a whisker over half the world average of fifteen.
Is it safe to visit?
Reasonable. Below the world average, on a small number of cases.
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.
Bahrain: 2.30
Ranked 62nd most conflict-affected country in the world.
Why this rank?
Three people died in fighting inside Bahrain in the year to July 2026, none of them civilians killed on purpose.
Is it safe to visit?
Three people died in Iranian strikes on the island in the year to July 2026, the last in March. The war next door is the only conflict it has.
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.
Bahrain: 4.11
Ranked 39th least free country in the world.
Why this rank?
In Bahrain protest and press are rated 0, meaning absent. Due process and movement are 1 and 1, so a visitor who keeps the rules is left alone. Total 4 of 24.
Is it safe to visit?
Since the 2011 protests were crushed, political rights have been dismantled and the opposition banned. Protest and press are rated absent. A visitor who keeps out of politics is left alone.
LGBT Rights
LGBT equality in law and daily life — higher is better.
Bahrain: 3.7
Ranked 90th most equal in the world for LGBT people.
Why this rank?
Legal since 1976, earlier than much of Europe, but morality laws fill the gap. The law index sits at 32 and public opinion at 42.
Is it safe to visit?
Reasonable, with discretion. Arrests for debauchery and deportations of expats happen behind the legal facade.
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.
Bahrain: 7.45
Ranked 78th safest country in the world for women.
Why this rank?
Eighty-seven percent of women feel safe walking alone at night and no attacks on women are recorded. The courts, rated poor for women, account for the whole loss.
Is it safe to visit?
A woman travelling alone will find Bahrain reasonable.