🇮🇶 Republic of Iraq (العراق)
Visiting: High Risk
Serious risks come with any visit to Iraq. Same-sex relationships are criminalised, which places it 122nd for LGBT rights, so LGBT travellers should weigh this carefully. Beyond that, nothing ranks well: women's safety is poor, ranking 129th, and the roads are hazardous, at 149th. Its weak spot is violent crime, which is common, placed 156th.
Homicide
Intentional homicides per 100,000 people — lower is better.
Iraq: 12.6
Ranked 25th in the world for the highest homicide rate.
Why this rank?
Twelve and a half killings per 100,000 people a year is over the ten that marks the deadliest countries.
Is it safe to visit?
A real risk for a visitor. The rate runs twice the world average, and stale — Iraq last counted in 2013, so it's the WHO's estimate.
Road Fatalities
Road-traffic deaths per 100,000 people per year — lower is better.
Iraq: 21.5
Ranked 32nd in the world for the deadliest roads.
Why this rank?
Twenty-one and a half 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. Two-thirds of the deaths are people in vehicles and most of the rest are on foot.
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.
Iraq: 2.99
Ranked 32nd most conflict-affected country in the world.
Why this rank?
243 people died in fighting inside Iraq in the year to July 2026, four of them civilians killed on purpose.
Is it safe to visit?
Take it seriously. Islamic State ambushes happen in Anbar and Kirkuk, and militias run their own patches. Baghdad and the Kurdish north are calmer than the reputation.
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.
Iraq: 2.42
Ranked 27th least free country in the world.
Why this rank?
In Iraq due process is rated 0, meaning absent, so the courts offer no protection if anything goes wrong. Total 5 of 24.
Is it safe to visit?
Courts offer no protection. Militias operate outside the law, state officials and armed groups infringe on rights through legal and extrajudicial means, and institutions are weak. Take the security situation seriously.
LGBT Rights
LGBT equality in law and daily life — higher is better.
Iraq: Illegal
Ranked 59th least equal in the world for LGBT people.
Why this rank?
A 2024 law explicitly criminalised same-sex relations with up to fifteen years, formalising what militias already enforced with murder. Red by law.
Is it safe to visit?
Not safe. Militia killings of gay and trans people are documented and unpunished.
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.
Iraq: 6.47
Ranked 52nd least safe country in the world for women.
Why this rank?
Sixty-seven percent of women feel safe out alone at night. The courts rate poorly for women, attacks on women were recorded in 2024, and three in ten women think wife-beating can be justified.
Is it safe to visit?
Take care as a woman travelling alone in Iraq.