🇧🇫 Burkina Faso
Visiting: Dangerous
Burkina Faso is a high-risk destination. Same-sex relationships are criminalised, which places it 122nd for LGBT rights, so LGBT travellers should weigh this carefully. Conflict and the roads are the main concern, both ranking 170th, in the bottom twenty. Beyond that, nothing ranks well: women's safety is poor, ranking 124th, and freedom is tightly restricted, at 138th.
Homicide
Intentional homicides per 100,000 people — lower is better.
Burkina Faso: 9.3
Ranked 38th in the world for the highest homicide rate.
Why this rank?
Just over nine killings per 100,000 people a year is well above the world average, where the risky tier begins, and just short of the ten of the deadliest.
Is it safe to visit?
Take it seriously. Half as high again as the world average. Burkina Faso reports no count, so we used the WHO's estimate.
Road Fatalities
Road-traffic deaths per 100,000 people per year — lower is better.
Burkina Faso: 27.8
Ranked 11th in the world for the deadliest roads.
Why this rank?
Twenty-eight deaths per 100,000 people a year is nearly double the world average of fifteen.
Is it safe to visit?
Not safe. The rate is nearly twice the world average.
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.
Burkina Faso: 4.52
Ranked 11th most conflict-affected country in the world.
Why this rank?
2,738 people died in fighting inside Burkina Faso in the year to July 2026, 190 of them civilians killed on purpose.
Is it safe to visit?
Not safe. Armed groups control much of the countryside and massacres of villagers keep mounting. The junta holds the cities, and little beyond them.
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.
Burkina Faso: 4.22
Ranked 43rd least free country in the world.
Why this rank?
In Burkina Faso speech is rated 0, meaning absent. Due process and movement are 1 and 1, so a visitor who keeps the rules is left alone. Total 6 of 24.
Is it safe to visit?
Under a junta after two coups in 2022, with elections postponed indefinitely and dissent suppressed. Speech is rated absent, so say nothing political. Armed extremist groups make much of the country insecure.
LGBT Rights
LGBT equality in law and daily life — higher is better.
Burkina Faso: Illegal
Ranked 59th least equal in the world for LGBT people.
Why this rank?
Criminalised for the first time in September 2025. The junta's family code sets two to five years plus fines, with foreigners liable to expulsion. Any criminal law is red.
Is it safe to visit?
Not safe. The law is already enforced and it names foreigners for expulsion. A visitor is exposed from the first day.
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.
Burkina Faso: 6.59
Ranked 57th least safe country in the world for women.
Why this rank?
Sixty-three percent of women feel safe out alone at night and partner violence is eleven percent. Attacks on women were recorded through 2024, and the courts rate below fair.
Is it safe to visit?
A woman travelling alone should take care when visiting Burkina Faso.