🇪🇷 State of Eritrea (ኤርትራ)
Visiting: Dangerous
Travel to Eritrea carries serious risks. Same-sex relationships are criminalised, which places it 122nd for LGBT rights, so LGBT travellers should weigh this carefully. Beyond that, there is some exposure to conflict, ranking 94th, though the roads are hazardous, at 128th. Where it lags is freedom, which is close to absent, placed 177th, and women's safety is among the very worst, ranking 162nd.
Homicide
Intentional homicides per 100,000 people — lower is better.
Eritrea: 10.4
Ranked 32nd in the world for the highest homicide rate.
Why this rank?
Ten killings per 100,000 people a year is nearly twice the world average and a fraction over the ten that marks the deadliest countries.
Is it safe to visit?
Take it seriously. Nearly twice the world average. Eritrea hasn't counted since 2012, so we used the WHO's estimate.
Road Fatalities
Road-traffic deaths per 100,000 people per year — lower is better.
Eritrea: 17.7
Ranked 53rd in the world for the deadliest roads.
Why this rank?
Nearly eighteen deaths per 100,000 people a year is above the world average of fifteen, though well short of double it.
Is it safe to visit?
Not safe — for people in cars and people walking alike. Above 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.
Eritrea: 1.80
Ranked 87th most conflict-affected country in the world.
Why this rank?
No conflict death is recorded in Eritrea in the year to July 2026. The last was in May 2022, inside the last five years.
Is it safe to visit?
Reasonable. Nothing at home in the year to July 2026. Its forces are fighting across the Ethiopian border, and that border is the place to stay away from.
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.
Eritrea: 0.10
Ranked 4th least free country in the world.
Why this rank?
In Eritrea due process and movement are rated 0, meaning absent, so the courts offer no protection and movement is controlled. Total 1 of 24.
Is it safe to visit?
No election since independence in 1993, a single party, and all independent media shut in 2001. Arbitrary detention is commonplace and movement is rated absent, which reaches a visitor as well.
LGBT Rights
LGBT equality in law and daily life — higher is better.
Eritrea: Illegal
Ranked 59th least equal in the world for LGBT people.
Why this rank?
Same-sex acts carry up to three years under the penal code. Any criminal law is red.
Is it safe to visit?
Not safe. In a state this controlled there is no community life at all, and the law is one danger among many.
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.
Eritrea: 5.05
Ranked 19th least safe country in the world for women.
Why this rank?
The courts are rated near the bottom for women, and half of women think wife-beating can be justified.
Is it safe to visit?
For a woman travelling alone, Eritrea is high risk.