180 countries ranked by safety, peace, freedom and LGBT+ equality
Visiting: Highly RecommendedLGBT+ visiting: Highly Recommended
Taiwan is the trip that converts people — night markets where you eat until you surrender, the marble gorge at Taroko, hot springs an hour from Taipei, and some of the kindest strangers in travel. It passed Asia's first same-sex marriage law and it's about as safe as anywhere on earth. The tense strait next door is the only asterisk. Go before everyone else figures this out.
Intentional homicides per 100,000 people — lower is better.
Taiwan: 0.8
Ranked 25th in the world for the lowest homicide rate.
About 0.8 homicides per 100,000 people, from national statistics — killings here are genuinely rare.
Taiwan is missing from the main international datasets, so national police statistics are used instead.
How peaceful the country is — lower is better.
Taiwan: 1.7
Ranked 54th most peaceful country in the world.
More peaceful than 75% of the 163 countries ranked, scoring 1.730.
Down 2 places since 2024.
Personal and economic freedom — higher is better.
Taiwan: 8.7
Ranked 13th freest country in the world.
Freer than 92% of the 165 countries measured — 8.72 out of 10.
Day-to-day life (speech, movement, religion) scores 9.22; doing business and owning property, 8.03.
LGBT+ equality in law and daily life — higher is better.
Taiwan: 5.9
Ranked 44th most equal in the world for LGBT+ people.
Better for LGBT+ equality than 77% of the 197 countries scored — 59 out of 100.
The law runs ahead of public opinion here — legal protections score 68 out of 100, everyday attitudes 51.