🇰🇼 State of Kuwait (الكويت)
Visiting: Take careLGBT visiting: High Risk
Visiting Kuwait is safe, though not without caveats. Same-sex relationships are criminalised, which places it 122nd for LGBT rights, so LGBT travellers should weigh this carefully. On the other side of the ledger, violent crime is rare, the 23rd-lowest homicide rate, and women's safety is good, at 47th. Where it lags is conflict: there is significant exposure, placed 131st.
Homicide
Intentional homicides per 100,000 people — lower is better.
Kuwait: 0.8
Ranked 23rd in the world for the lowest homicide rate.
Why this rank?
Under one killing per 100,000 people a year is inside the line that marks the safest countries.
Is it safe to visit?
As safe as it gets for a visitor.
Road Fatalities
Road-traffic deaths per 100,000 people per year — lower is better.
Kuwait: 9.2
Ranked 61st in the world for the safest roads.
Why this rank?
Nine 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, on the WHO's estimate.
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.
Kuwait: 2.56
Ranked 50th most conflict-affected country in the world.
Why this rank?
15 people died in fighting inside Kuwait in the year to July 2026, none of them civilians killed on purpose.
Is it safe to visit?
Take care while the war next door lasts. Iranian strikes killed 15 people in Kuwait in the year to July 2026, including at the airport and the refinery, and the last was in July.
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.
Kuwait: 5.47
Ranked 66th least free country in the world.
Why this rank?
In Kuwait the lowest are speech, press and movement at 1. Total 9 of 24.
Is it safe to visit?
The ruling family holds executive power and parliament was dissolved in 2024. Insulting the emir brings prison, and migrant workers now need employer permission to travel abroad. Keep politics out of conversation.
LGBT Rights
LGBT equality in law and daily life — higher is better.
Kuwait: Illegal
Ranked 59th least equal in the world for LGBT people.
Why this rank?
Sex between men carries up to seven years. A law criminalising imitating the opposite sex was struck down in 2022, but harassment continues. Red by law.
Is it safe to visit?
Not safe to be open. Arrests, deportations of expats and strong social policing.
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.
Kuwait: 8.08
Ranked 47th safest country in the world for women.
Why this rank?
Eighty-four percent of women feel safe out alone at night. The courts rate only fairly, and attitudes to violence at home are the weak figure.
Is it safe to visit?
Kuwait is safe for a woman travelling alone.