🇧🇹 Kingdom of Bhutan (འབྲུག་ཡུལ)
Visiting: Reasonable
Bhutan is broadly safe, with one or two things to weigh first. LGBT rights are solid, ranking 60th, and there is some exposure to conflict, at 70th. Its weakest measure is women's safety, which is fair, placed 91st. Violent crime is moderate, road deaths are neither a strength nor a worry and freedom is only partly protected, all ranking between 78th and 87th.
Homicide
Intentional homicides per 100,000 people — lower is better.
Bhutan: 2.5
Ranked 78th in the world for the lowest homicide rate.
Why this rank?
Two and a half killings per 100,000 people a year is low but a step above the one where the safest countries sit.
Is it safe to visit?
Safe for a visitor. Bhutan's newest count, from 2020, is tiny, and strangers are almost never involved.
Road Fatalities
Road-traffic deaths per 100,000 people per year — lower is better.
Bhutan: 12.2
Ranked 86th in the world for the safest roads.
Why this rank?
Twelve deaths per 100,000 people a year is just below the world average of fifteen.
Is it safe to visit?
Reasonable. Below the world average, and almost every death is someone in a vehicle rather than on foot.
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.
Bhutan: 1.18
Ranked 70th least conflict-affected country in the world.
Why this rank?
Nothing in twenty-five years. The last conflict death the Uppsala conflict database records in Bhutan was in September 1997.
Is it safe to visit?
Safe. Nothing reaches a visitor. The border friction is a matter for diplomats.
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.
Bhutan: 6.25
Ranked 87th freest country in the world.
Why this rank?
In Bhutan 4 of the six freedoms are rated 2 and the rest higher. Total 14 of 24.
Is it safe to visit?
A constitutional monarchy with credible elections and peaceful handovers. Four of the six freedoms carry significant limits, but nothing is rated absent, and a visitor meets none of it.
LGBT Rights
LGBT equality in law and daily life — higher is better.
Bhutan: 5.1
Ranked 60th most equal in the world for LGBT people.
Why this rank?
Decriminalised in 2021 after parliament voted the old provisions out. Law and opinion both score around 50 out of 100.
Is it safe to visit?
Fine, with discretion. The change came with little drama, and society is quiet on the subject.
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.
Bhutan: 7.17
Ranked 90th least safe country in the world for women.
Why this rank?
No attacks on women are recorded and the courts rate fairly. Seven in ten women think wife-beating can be justified, and only 59 percent feel safe out alone at night.
Is it safe to visit?
Bhutan is a reasonable choice for a woman travelling alone.