🇧🇧 Barbados
Visiting: High Risk
On the whole Barbados is safe, with a couple of points to weigh. Violent crime is the defining risk: homicide ranks 165th, one of the highest rates in the world. Even so, there is no conflict at all and freedom is as good as it gets, both ranking 1st. Women's safety is good, LGBT rights are solid and road deaths are moderate, all ranking between 45th and 70th.
Homicide
Intentional homicides per 100,000 people — lower is better.
Barbados: 17.7
Ranked 16th in the world for the highest homicide rate.
Why this rank?
Nearly eighteen killings per 100,000 people a year is close to twice the ten that marks the deadliest countries.
Is it safe to visit?
Take it seriously. The rate runs three times the world average.
Why we updated the score?
The UN's figure labelled 2024 is actually 2023's 21 killings. The police counted 50 in 2024 and 50 again in 2025, so we've used the police's count.
Road Fatalities
Road-traffic deaths per 100,000 people per year — lower is better.
Barbados: 10.0
Ranked 70th in the world for the safest roads.
Why this rank?
Ten deaths per 100,000 people a year is under the world average of fifteen but past half of it.
Is it safe to visit?
Reasonable. Below the world average, and a third of the deaths are motorcyclists.
Conflict — world number one
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.
Barbados: 1.00
Ranked 1st least conflict-affected country in the world.
Why this rank?
Nothing on record. The Uppsala conflict database has never recorded a conflict death in Barbados since its records began in 1989.
Is it safe to visit?
Nothing to think about. Nothing has ever come near it.
Freedom — world number one
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.
Barbados: 10.00
Ranked 1st freest country in the world.
Why this rank?
In Barbados every one of the six freedoms scores the full 4. Total 24 of 24.
Is it safe to visit?
All six freedoms fully respected. Competitive elections and civil liberties upheld. Freedom House notes discrimination against LGBT people and violent crime, which is the Homicide column's job.
LGBT Rights
LGBT equality in law and daily life — higher is better.
Barbados: 5.5
Ranked 49th most equal in the world for LGBT people.
Why this rank?
The High Court struck down the colonial-era buggery law in December 2022. Public opinion scores 71, well above the law at 40, and that warmth lifts the rank.
Is it safe to visit?
Fine, with discretion. Part of the Caribbean's court-led wave of change, with society warming more slowly than the law.
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.
Barbados: 8.11
Ranked 45th safest country in the world for women.
Why this rank?
The courts rate well and almost nobody says a husband can be justified in beating his wife. The index's street estimate, just over half of women feeling safe at night, holds it back.
Is it safe to visit?
For a woman travelling alone, Barbados is safe.