180 countries ranked by safety, peace, freedom and LGBT+ equality
Visiting: Recommend CautionLGBT+ visiting: Recommend Caution
An hour with mountain gorillas in the Volcanoes National Park is the kind of thing people reorganise their lives around, and Rwanda has made it the smoothest wildlife experience in Africa. Kigali is clean, safe and easy (they banned plastic bags back in 2008), with a genocide memorial everyone should visit once. The order comes with strict rules and no tolerance for political noise, so read up before you go.
Intentional homicides per 100,000 people — lower is better.
Rwanda: 3.6
Ranked 85th in the world for the highest homicide rate.
3.61 homicides per 100,000 people in 2020 — a moderate rate by world standards.
Higher than 50% of the 230 countries and territories measured.
How peaceful the country is — lower is better.
Rwanda: 2.0
Ranked 73rd least peaceful country in the world.
More peaceful than 44% of the 163 countries ranked, scoring 2.036.
Climbed 12 places since 2024 — one of the year's bigger rises.
Personal and economic freedom — higher is better.
Rwanda: 5.6
Ranked 52nd least free country in the world.
Less free than 75% of the 165 countries measured — 5.67 out of 10.
Day-to-day life (speech, movement, religion) scores 5.16; doing business and owning property, 6.37.
LGBT+ equality in law and daily life — higher is better.
Rwanda: 3.5
Ranked 83rd least equal in the world for LGBT+ people.
Ranks behind 54% of the 197 countries scored for LGBT+ equality — 35 out of 100.
Law and public attitudes sit close together, at 38 and 32 out of 100.