🇰🇿 Republic of Kazakhstan (Қазақстан)
Visiting: Take care
With a few caveats, Kazakhstan is a safe place to visit. There is no conflict at all, ranking 1st, and road deaths are moderate, at 82nd. Where it lags is freedom, which is tightly restricted, placed 138th. Violent crime is not a major problem, women's safety is fair and LGBT rights are limited by a censorship law, all ranking between 85th and 112th.
Homicide
Intentional homicides per 100,000 people — lower is better.
Kazakhstan: 2.7
Ranked 85th in the world for the lowest homicide rate.
Why this rank?
Under three killings per 100,000 people a year is low but a step above the one where the safest countries sit.
Is it safe to visit?
Fine for a visitor. The rate is well below the world average.
Why we updated the score?
Kazakhstan's own statistics run to 2024, and its 2022 count matched the UN's, so we used its 2024 count. The full 2025 year isn't out.
Road Fatalities
Road-traffic deaths per 100,000 people per year — lower is better.
Kazakhstan: 11.9
Ranked 82nd in the world for the safest roads.
Why this rank?
Twelve deaths per 100,000 people a year is under the world average of fifteen but past half of it.
Is it safe to visit?
Reasonable. Below the world average, with a quarter of the deaths people on foot.
Why we updated the score?
The WHO's 2021 figure was Kazakhstan's own count. The prosecutor general's statistics committee has published 2025, with 2,331 deaths, 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.
Kazakhstan: 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 Kazakhstan since its records began in 1989.
Is it safe to visit?
Safe. Nothing armed reaches a visitor anywhere in the country.
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.
Kazakhstan: 4.22
Ranked 43rd least free country in the world.
Why this rank?
In Kazakhstan press is rated 0, meaning absent. Due process and movement are 1 and 2, so a visitor who keeps the rules is left alone. Total 6 of 24.
Is it safe to visit?
Press is rated absent. Elections are neither free nor fair, opposition figures are imprisoned, and speech and assembly are subject to punishment. A visitor who keeps out of politics is left alone.
LGBT Rights
LGBT equality in law and daily life — higher is better.
Kazakhstan: Censorship
Ranked 69th least equal in the world for LGBT people.
Why this rank?
Homosexuality is legal, but a law banning positive mention of LGBT people took effect in March 2026 and is already used in prosecutions.
Is it safe to visit?
Take care. Attitudes are hostile and police apply periodic pressure, with a quiet scene in Almaty that keeps its head down.
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.
Kazakhstan: 6.80
Ranked 71st least safe country in the world for women.
Why this rank?
Sixty percent of women feel safe out alone at night and partner violence is six percent. The courts rate poorly for women, and 37 percent think wife-beating can be justified.
Is it safe to visit?
A woman travelling alone should take care when visiting Kazakhstan.