🇸🇿 Kingdom of Eswatini (eSwatini)
Visiting: High Risk
Travel to Eswatini 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 106th, though freedom is tightly restricted, at 135th. Its weakest measure is the roads, which are among the deadliest anywhere, placed 162nd.
Homicide
Intentional homicides per 100,000 people — lower is better.
Eswatini: 13.7
Ranked 22nd in the world for the highest homicide rate.
Why this rank?
Nearly fourteen killings per 100,000 people a year is well over the ten that marks the deadliest countries.
Is it safe to visit?
Take it seriously. Eswatini's own 2024 count is 170 killings, a rate more than twice the world average.
Road Fatalities
Road-traffic deaths per 100,000 people per year — lower is better.
Eswatini: 24.7
Ranked 19th in the world for the deadliest roads.
Why this rank?
Twenty-five 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, especially on foot — nearly half the deaths are pedestrians.
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.
Eswatini: 2.03
Ranked 75th most conflict-affected country in the world.
Why this rank?
No conflict death is recorded in Eswatini in the year to July 2026. The last was in January 2025, inside the last five years.
Is it safe to visit?
Reasonable. No conflict death in the year to July 2026, and one death in January 2025 before that. Nothing armed reaches a visitor.
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.
Eswatini: 4.28
Ranked 46th least free country in the world.
Why this rank?
In Eswatini protest is rated 0, meaning absent. Due process and movement are 1 and 2, so a visitor who keeps the rules is left alone. Total 7 of 24.
Is it safe to visit?
The king holds ultimate authority. Political parties and protest are rated absent, and political dissent draws harsh punishment under sedition laws. A visitor who keeps out of politics is left alone.
LGBT Rights
LGBT equality in law and daily life — higher is better.
Eswatini: Illegal
Ranked 59th least equal in the world for LGBT people.
Why this rank?
Male same-sex acts remain criminal under colonial-era common law, though prosecutions are unheard of. Any criminal law is red.
Is it safe to visit?
Not safe to be open, though the law sits unused. Small Pride events have happened, and the courts gave the main advocacy group a partial win in 2023.
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.
Eswatini: 6.00
Ranked 27th least safe country in the world for women.
Why this rank?
Only 32 percent of women feel safe out alone at night, the courts rate poorly for women, and partner violence is eighteen percent.
Is it safe to visit?
A woman travelling alone should take care when visiting Eswatini.