🇲🇾 Malaysia
Visiting: Take careLGBT visiting: High Risk
The risks in Malaysia are real. Same-sex relationships are criminalised, which places it 122nd for LGBT rights, so LGBT travellers should weigh this carefully. Even so, violent crime is close to non-existent, the 18th-lowest homicide rate, and there is some exposure to conflict, at 83rd. Its weakest measure is the roads, which are hazardous, placed 137th.
Homicide
Intentional homicides per 100,000 people — lower is better.
Malaysia: 0.7
Ranked 18th 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?
Safe for a visitor. A rate far below the world average.
Road Fatalities
Road-traffic deaths per 100,000 people per year — lower is better.
Malaysia: 19.1
Ranked 44th in the world for the deadliest roads.
Why this rank?
Nineteen deaths per 100,000 people a year is above the world average of fifteen, though well short of double it.
Is it safe to visit?
Not safe on a motorbike, which is two-thirds of the deaths. In a car the risk is much smaller.
Why we updated the score?
The WHO's 2021 figure was Malaysia's own count from a lockdown year. The transport ministry has published 2025, with 6,537 deaths, so we've used the newer count and the rate goes up a band.
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.
Malaysia: 1.50
Ranked 83rd least conflict-affected country in the world.
Why this rank?
No conflict death is recorded in Malaysia in the last five years. The last one the Uppsala conflict database has was in December 2017.
Is it safe to visit?
Nothing to think about. Nothing reaches a visitor. Its sea claims are pressed through diplomats.
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.
Malaysia: 6.09
Ranked 89th least free country in the world.
Why this rank?
In Malaysia the lowest is religion at 1. Total 13 of 24.
Is it safe to visit?
Modest improvements since the 2018 change of government, but restrictive speech laws remain. Religion is the low rating. Keep it out of public discussion, and daily life is otherwise open.
LGBT Rights
LGBT equality in law and daily life — higher is better.
Malaysia: Illegal
Ranked 59th least equal in the world for LGBT people.
Why this rank?
Federal law sets up to twenty years plus caning for sex between men, with sharia offences layered on for Muslims. Enforcement is real, and it is red by law.
Is it safe to visit?
Not safe to be open. Politicians compete on the issue and concerts get cancelled over rainbow flags, yet Kuala Lumpur sustains a careful underground scene.
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.
Malaysia: 6.52
Ranked 54th least safe country in the world for women.
Why this rank?
No attacks on women are recorded and the courts rate fairly. Only 36 percent of women feel safe out alone at night, and over half think wife-beating can be justified.
Is it safe to visit?
A woman travelling alone should take care in Malaysia.