🇬🇦 Gabonese Republic
Visiting: Take care
On the whole Gabon is safe, with a couple of points to weigh. There is no conflict at all, ranking 1st, and road deaths are moderate, at 90th. Where it lags is women's safety, which is poor, placed 139th. Freedom is only partly protected, LGBT rights are limited and violent crime is common, with all three ranking between 98th and 133rd.
Homicide
Intentional homicides per 100,000 people — lower is better.
Gabon: 8.0
Ranked 48th in the world for the highest homicide rate.
Why this rank?
Eight killings per 100,000 people a year is well above the world average, where the risky tier begins.
Is it safe to visit?
Take care. A third above the world average. Gabon publishes no count, so we used the WHO's estimate.
Road Fatalities
Road-traffic deaths per 100,000 people per year — lower is better.
Gabon: 12.5
Ranked 90th in the world for the safest roads.
Why this rank?
Twelve and a half deaths per 100,000 people a year is just below the world average of fifteen.
Is it safe to visit?
Reasonable. Below the world average, though the figure is a WHO estimate.
Conflict — world number one
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.
Gabon: 1.00
Ranked 1st least conflict-affected country in the world.
Why this rank?
Nothing on record. The Uppsala conflict database has never recorded a conflict death in Gabon since its records began in 1989.
Is it safe to visit?
Safe. The coup is over and done, and 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.
Gabon: 5.93
Ranked 83rd least free country in the world.
Why this rank?
In Gabon the lowest is due process at 1. Total 12 of 24.
Is it safe to visit?
The general who led the 2023 coup won the 2025 election. Daily life is calm. The courts are the low rating, and Freedom House notes discrimination against immigrants and minorities.
LGBT Rights
LGBT equality in law and daily life — higher is better.
Gabon: 2.4
Ranked 73rd least equal in the world for LGBT people.
Why this rank?
Criminalised in 2019, then decriminalised in 2020, one of the world's rare quick reversals. The law index sits at 35 and public opinion at 13.
Is it safe to visit?
Take care. The reversal came from the top, not from a shift in attitudes, and discretion remains the rule.
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.
Gabon: 6.24
Ranked 42nd least safe country in the world for women.
Why this rank?
The courts rate fairly and no attacks on women are recorded. Only a third of women feel safe out alone at night, partner violence is 22 percent, and 58 percent think wife-beating can be justified.
Is it safe to visit?
Take care as a woman travelling alone in Gabon.