🇲🇷 Islamic Republic of Mauritania (موريتانيا)
Visiting: ReasonableLGBT visiting: DangerousWomen visiting: Take care
Mauritania carries real risks. Same-sex relationships are criminalised and punishable by death, which places it 176th for LGBT rights, so LGBT travellers should weigh this carefully. That said, violent crime is rare, the 39th-lowest homicide rate, and road deaths are moderate, at 64th. There is some exposure to conflict, ranking 104th, and women's safety is poor, at 147th.
Homicide
Intentional homicides per 100,000 people — lower is better.
Mauritania: 1.0
Ranked 39th in the world for the lowest homicide rate.
Why this rank?
One killing per 100,000 people a year is exactly on the line that marks the safest countries.
Is it safe to visit?
Fine for a visitor. Mauritania's own count, from 2020, puts the rate far below the world average.
Road Fatalities
Road-traffic deaths per 100,000 people per year — lower is better.
Mauritania: 9.5
Ranked 64th in the world for the safest roads.
Why this rank?
Nine and a half 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.
Mauritania: 1.98
Ranked 77th most conflict-affected country in the world.
Why this rank?
No conflict death is recorded in Mauritania in the year to July 2026. The last was in April 2024, inside the last five years.
Is it safe to visit?
Reasonable. Nothing is recorded since April 2024, and nothing armed reaches a visitor.
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.
Mauritania: 5.47
Ranked 66th least free country in the world.
Why this rank?
In Mauritania the lowest are speech, movement and due process at 1. Total 9 of 24.
Is it safe to visit?
Recent elections have been credible, but journalists risk arrest for sensitive reporting and activists working on slavery have been arrested. A visitor who avoids politics and religion is left alone.
LGBT Rights
LGBT equality in law and daily life — higher is better.
Mauritania: Stoning
Ranked 5th least equal in the world for LGBT people.
Why this rank?
Sharia-based law prescribes death by stoning for sex between men. No execution is documented in decades, but the provision stands, and it is red by law.
Is it safe to visit?
Not safe. The death penalty on the books does its work through fear. Nothing exists openly and nothing can.
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.
Mauritania: 6.09
Ranked 34th least safe country in the world for women.
Why this rank?
Sixty percent of women feel safe out alone at night and no attacks on women are recorded. The courts are rated near the bottom for women, and that is where the score is lost.
Is it safe to visit?
A woman travelling alone should take care when visiting Mauritania.