🇫🇷 French Republic
Visiting: Safe
France is a safe place to travel. Women's safety is among the very best, ranking 19th, and LGBT rights are solid, at 21st. Its weakest measure is conflict: there is some exposure, placed 87th, though that is still inside the top half. Road deaths are low, freedom is well protected and violent crime is rare, all ranking between 31st and 48th.
Homicide
Intentional homicides per 100,000 people — lower is better.
France: 1.3
Ranked 48th in the world for the lowest homicide rate.
Why this rank?
Just over one killing per 100,000 people a year is a shade outside the line that marks the safest countries.
Is it safe to visit?
Fine for a visitor. Well below the world average, and the gang violence that makes the news is a tenth of it.
Road Fatalities
Road-traffic deaths per 100,000 people per year — lower is better.
France: 5.1
Ranked 31st in the world for the safest roads.
Why this rank?
Five deaths per 100,000 people a year is above the EU average of four and a half but well under half the world average of fifteen.
Is it safe to visit?
Safe by world standards.
Why we updated the score?
The WHO's 2021 figure was France's own count for the mainland. The road-safety observatory has published its final 2025 count, so we've used it.
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.
France: 1.59
Ranked 87th least conflict-affected country in the world.
Why this rank?
No conflict death is recorded in France in the last five years. The last one the Uppsala conflict database has was in December 2018.
Is it safe to visit?
Safe. France's conflicts happen abroad, where its army deploys. At home the worry is terrorism, and the threat level rarely comes down for long.
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.
France: 8.10
Ranked 47th freest country in the world.
Why this rank?
In France 4 of the six freedoms are rated 3 and the rest higher. Total 20 of 24.
Is it safe to visit?
A vibrant democracy with strong protections, rated one step from the top on five freedoms. Governments have curtailed rights in response to terrorism and protests, including states of emergency limiting assembly and movement.
LGBT Rights
LGBT equality in law and daily life — higher is better.
France: 7.4
Ranked 21st most equal in the world for LGBT people.
Why this rank?
Marriage and adoption have been legal since 2013, IVF for all women since 2021, and there is strong hate-crime law. The law index scores 90, public opinion 58.
Is it safe to visit?
Fine. The 2013 protests are history and acceptance is broad, though harassment in some suburbs and small towns persists.
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.
France: 8.69
Ranked 19th safest country in the world for women.
Why this rank?
Seven in ten women feel safe out alone at night, the courts rate high, and violence at home is rare.
Is it safe to visit?
France is one of the safest places for a woman travelling alone.