180 countries ranked by safety, peace, freedom and LGBT+ equality
Visiting: Recommend CautionLGBT+ visiting: Not Recommended
Brunei is quiet, green and strange in an interesting way — a water village on stilts that's older than the capital, untouched rainforest canopy walks at Ulu Temburong, and gold-domed mosques over everything. Crime is nearly nonexistent. But its sharia code prescribes death by stoning for homosexuality: LGBT+ travellers must not go, and plenty of others will skip it on principle.
Intentional homicides per 100,000 people — lower is better.
Brunei: 0.8
Ranked 25th in the world for the lowest homicide rate.
An estimated 0.82 homicides per 100,000 people — killings here are genuinely rare. The 2021 estimate is the freshest figure that exists.
Lower than 83% of the 230 countries and territories measured.
How peaceful the country is — lower is better.
Brunei: 1.5
Ranked 21st most peaceful country in the world.
Not GPI-ranked; 1.49 is our estimate using the index's own 23-indicator method.
Almost no crime at all — the sultanate spends heavily on its military for its size and shares South China Sea claims with China, and that's most of the score.
Personal and economic freedom — higher is better.
Brunei: 5.9
Ranked 60th least free country in the world.
Less free than 70% of the 165 countries measured — 5.92 out of 10.
Day-to-day life (speech, movement, religion) scores 5.08; doing business and owning property, 7.09.
LGBT+ equality in law and daily life — higher is better.
Brunei: Stoning
Ranked 5th least equal in the world for LGBT+ people.
Homosexuality is criminalised here, with a maximum penalty of death by stoning.
No public-opinion data is available for this country.