🇮🇸 Iceland (Ísland)
Visiting: Safe
Iceland is about as safe as travel gets. Two measures stand out: there is no conflict at all and LGBT rights are among the very strongest, both ranking 1st. Where it lags is violent crime, which is moderate, placed 66th, though that is still inside the top half. Women's safety is very good, road deaths are exceptionally few and freedom is as good as it gets, with all three ranking between 8th and 16th.
Homicide
Intentional homicides per 100,000 people — lower is better.
Iceland: 2.0
Ranked 66th in the world for the lowest homicide rate.
Why this rank?
Two killings per 100,000 people a year sounds worse than it is, but with under 400,000 people that is a handful of cases, so the rate jumps around.
Is it safe to visit?
As safe as anywhere on earth. Even its record year was a handful, none involving strangers.
Road Fatalities
Road-traffic deaths per 100,000 people per year — lower is better.
Iceland: 2.6
Ranked 13th in the world for the safest roads.
Why this rank?
Under three deaths per 100,000 people a year is well under the EU average of four and a half, on a handful of cases a year.
Is it safe to visit?
Safe. A handful of cases a year.
Why we updated the score?
The WHO's 2021 figure was Iceland's own count. The transport authority has published 2025, a handful of cases as ever, so we've used the newer count.
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.
Iceland: 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 Iceland since its records began in 1989.
Is it safe to visit?
Nothing to think about.
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.
Iceland: 8.99
Ranked 16th freest country in the world.
Why this rank?
In Iceland the lowest is press at 3. Total 23 of 24.
Is it safe to visit?
A long record of upholding political rights and civil liberties. Press is rated one step from the top. Freedom House notes the concentration of private media ownership. A visitor meets no restriction.
LGBT Rights — world number one
LGBT equality in law and daily life — higher is better.
Iceland: 9.3
Ranked 1st most equal in the world for LGBT people.
Why this rank?
Everything is in place, marriage since 2010, adoption, self-ID and a conversion-therapy ban, and it tops Europe's rankings. The law index scores 96, public opinion 90.
Is it safe to visit?
Fine. It elected the world's first openly gay head of government in 2009, and acceptance is close to universal.
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.
Iceland: 9.47
Ranked 8th safest country in the world for women.
Why this rank?
Eighty-two percent of women feel safe out alone at night and violence at home is rare. The courts rate a shade below the top.
Is it safe to visit?
Iceland ranks among the safest countries for a woman travelling alone.