🇧🇿 Belize
Visiting: Dangerous
Take care in Belize: the risks are real. Violent crime is the defining risk: homicide ranks 170th, one of the highest rates in the world, and worse again, women's safety is extremely poor, placed 178th. That said, freedom is as good as it gets, ranking 16th, and LGBT rights are limited, at 66th. There is some exposure to conflict, ranking 110th, and the roads are hazardous, at 154th.
Homicide
Intentional homicides per 100,000 people — lower is better.
Belize: 21.2
Ranked 11th in the world for the highest homicide rate.
Why this rank?
Twenty-one killings per 100,000 people a year is twice the ten that marks the deadliest countries.
Is it safe to visit?
A real risk on the numbers. The rate is very high, and in the last breakdown nearly all killings were tied to gangs and other crime.
Why we updated the score?
The police have published their 2025 count, 88 murders, down from 113. The UN takes its figure from the police, so we've used the new count.
Road Fatalities
Road-traffic deaths per 100,000 people per year — lower is better.
Belize: 22.7
Ranked 27th in the world for the deadliest roads.
Why this rank?
Nearly twenty-three deaths per 100,000 people a year is well above the world average of fifteen but short of double it.
Is it safe to visit?
Not safe. The rate is high, and it's spread across cars, motorbikes, bicycles and walking alike.
Why we updated the score?
The WHO's 2021 figure was Belize's own count of 70 deaths. The crime observatory has published 2025, with 97, so we've used the newer count.
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.
Belize: 2.11
Ranked 71st most conflict-affected country in the world.
Why this rank?
One person died in fighting inside Belize in January 2026, and none since.
Is it safe to visit?
One person died in fighting between the police and an armed group in Belize district in the year to July 2026. Gang feuds are counted under Homicide.
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.
Belize: 8.99
Ranked 16th freest country in the world.
Why this rank?
In Belize the lowest is due process at 3. Total 23 of 24.
Is it safe to visit?
A democracy with regular rotations of power and civil liberties mostly respected. Due process is one step from the top, with police brutality slow to be addressed.
LGBT Rights
LGBT equality in law and daily life — higher is better.
Belize: 5.0
Ranked 66th most equal in the world for LGBT people.
Why this rank?
The 2016 Caribbean Court ruling decriminalised same-sex acts, the region's first such win. The law index sits at 57 and public opinion at 44.
Is it safe to visit?
Fine, with discretion. The activist who brought the case still lives there openly, and tolerance is growing from a conservative base.
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.
Belize: 1.50
Ranked 3rd least safe country in the world for women.
Why this rank?
Two in three women feel safe out alone at night and violence at home is low. Attacks on women were recorded in 2024 at the index's worst-case rate, which alone costs the score.
Is it safe to visit?
Belize is a dangerous place for a woman travelling alone.