🇸🇴 Federal Republic of Somalia (Soomaaliya)
Visiting: Dangerous
Somalia carries serious safety risks. Same-sex relationships are criminalised and can carry the death penalty, which places it 169th for LGBT rights, so LGBT travellers should weigh this carefully. Conflict is the main concern: it ranks 171st, in the bottom twenty, and freedom is close to absent, placed 169th. Violent crime is moderate, ranking 112th, though women's safety is poor, at 126th.
Homicide
Intentional homicides per 100,000 people — lower is better.
Somalia: 5.0
Ranked 69th in the world for the highest homicide rate.
Why this rank?
Five killings per 100,000 people a year is a touch under the world average of 5.8, which is where the risky tier begins.
Is it safe to visit?
The homicide figure tells you nothing useful — a WHO estimate made in the middle of a war. The Conflict score is what matters here.
Road Fatalities
Road-traffic deaths per 100,000 people per year — lower is better.
Somalia: 20.2
Ranked 39th in the world for the deadliest roads.
Why this rank?
Twenty deaths per 100,000 people a year on the WHO's estimate is well above the world average of fifteen but short of double it.
Is it safe to visit?
Not safe. The rate is high, on the only estimate there is — Somalia's own count is plainly incomplete.
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.
Somalia: 4.57
Ranked 10th most conflict-affected country in the world.
Why this rank?
3,747 people died in fighting inside Somalia in the year to July 2026, 53 of them civilians killed on purpose. The UN Security Council has sanctions on the country over its conflict.
Is it safe to visit?
Not safe. Al-Shabaab fights the government across the south and centre, Mogadishu included. Somaliland in the northwest runs itself and is markedly calmer.
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.
Somalia: 0.30
Ranked 12th least free country in the world.
Why this rank?
In Somalia due process and movement are rated 0, meaning absent, so the courts offer no protection and movement is controlled. Total 3 of 24.
Is it safe to visit?
Courts offer no protection and movement is rated absent. The government's control is contested by al-Shabaab, an Islamist militant group, and by Somaliland, and abuses by state and non-state actors occur regularly.
LGBT Rights
LGBT equality in law and daily life — higher is better.
Somalia: Death
Ranked 12th least equal in the world for LGBT people.
Why this rank?
The penal code criminalises same-sex acts, and the Islamist militants al-Shabaab execute people for them where they rule. The death penalty applies in practice, and it is red by law.
Is it safe to visit?
Not safe. No open life is conceivable, and even suspicion can be lethal.
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.
Somalia: 6.54
Ranked 55th least safe country in the world for women.
Why this rank?
Eighty-two percent of women feel safe out alone at night, which lifts the score. Three in four women think wife-beating can be justified, attacks on women are recorded, and the courts rate below fair.
Is it safe to visit?
A woman travelling alone should take care in Somalia.