🇷🇼 Republic of Rwanda (u Rwanda)
Visiting: Take care
Rwanda is not a place to visit without care. Nothing ranks highly here: road deaths are moderate, ranking 80th, and women's safety is fair, at 93rd. Its weakest measure is freedom, which is tightly restricted, placed 142nd. LGBT rights are limited, violent crime is not a major problem and there is some exposure to conflict, all ranking between 94th and 106th.
Homicide
Intentional homicides per 100,000 people — lower is better.
Rwanda: 3.6
Ranked 86th in the world for the highest homicide rate.
Why this rank?
Three and a half killings per 100,000 people a year is below the world average but past the three where the low tier ends.
Is it safe to visit?
Reasonable. Below the world average, on Rwanda's own count for 2020 — the newest there is.
Road Fatalities
Road-traffic deaths per 100,000 people per year — lower is better.
Rwanda: 11.6
Ranked 80th 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, and most of the deaths are people walking or cycling.
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.
Rwanda: 2.03
Ranked 75th most conflict-affected country in the world.
Why this rank?
No conflict death is recorded in Rwanda in the year to July 2026. The last was in January 2025, inside the last five years.
Is it safe to visit?
Reasonable. Nothing is recorded inside Rwanda in the year to July 2026. Its army is fighting across the border in eastern Congo, and that is where to stay away from.
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.
Rwanda: 4.11
Ranked 39th least free country in the world.
Why this rank?
In Rwanda protest, speech and press are rated 0, meaning absent. Due process and movement are 1 and 1, so a visitor who keeps the rules is left alone. Total 4 of 24.
Is it safe to visit?
Orderly and stable, but protest, speech and press are rated absent. Dissent is met with surveillance, arbitrary detention and torture, and exiled critics face rendition or suspected assassination. Say nothing political, anywhere.
LGBT Rights
LGBT equality in law and daily life — higher is better.
Rwanda: 3.5
Ranked 87th least equal in the world for LGBT people.
Why this rank?
Never criminalised, rare for the region, with no protections or recognition. Law and opinion both score in the thirties.
Is it safe to visit?
Reasonable, with discretion. Officially tolerant, practically constrained, with reports of round-ups of trans people before big events.
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.
Rwanda: 7.11
Ranked 88th least safe country in the world for women.
Why this rank?
Seventy-six percent of women feel safe out alone at night. The loss is at home, where partner violence hits nearly one woman in four and 45 percent think wife-beating can be justified.
Is it safe to visit?
Rwanda is a reasonable choice for a woman travelling alone.