🇺🇾 Oriental Republic of Uruguay
Visiting: High Risk
Uruguay is safe with caveats. Conflict is absent altogether, ranking 1st, and LGBT rights are among the very strongest, at 3rd. Where it lags is violent crime, which is common, placed 153rd. Freedom is as good as it gets, ranking 16th, women's safety is fair, at 61st, and road deaths are moderate, placed 105th.
Homicide
Intentional homicides per 100,000 people — lower is better.
Uruguay: 11.0
Ranked 28th in the world for the highest homicide rate.
Why this rank?
Eleven killings per 100,000 people a year is just over the ten that marks the deadliest countries.
Is it safe to visit?
Take care. The rate is nearly twice the world average, though over half of 2024's killings were gang-related.
Why we updated the score?
The interior ministry has published its 2025 count, 369, down from 382. The UN takes its figure from the ministry a year later, so we've used the new count.
Road Fatalities
Road-traffic deaths per 100,000 people per year — lower is better.
Uruguay: 14.2
Ranked 76th in the world for the deadliest roads.
Why this rank?
Fourteen deaths per 100,000 people a year is a whisker under the world average of fifteen.
Is it safe to visit?
Reasonable in a car, but not on a motorbike, which is half the deaths.
Why we updated the score?
The WHO's 2021 figure was Uruguay's own count. The road-safety unit has published 2025, with 471 deaths, up 8.5%, so we've used the newer count.
Conflict — world number one
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.
Uruguay: 1.00
Ranked 1st least conflict-affected country in the world.
Why this rank?
Nothing on record. The Uppsala conflict database has never recorded a conflict death in Uruguay since its records began in 1989.
Is it safe to visit?
Nothing to think about. Nothing has come near it in half a century.
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.
Uruguay: 8.99
Ranked 16th freest country in the world.
Why this rank?
In Uruguay the lowest is due process at 3. Total 23 of 24.
Is it safe to visit?
A strong democratic record. Due process is one step from the top, with delays in the courts and prison conditions the persistent issues. A visitor meets no restriction.
LGBT Rights
LGBT equality in law and daily life — higher is better.
Uruguay: 8.7
Ranked 3rd most equal in the world for LGBT people.
Why this rank?
Marriage has been legal since 2013 in the region's most secular country, with adoption and self-ID all settled. The law index scores 100, public opinion 74.
Is it safe to visit?
Fine. It is among Latin America's most accepting societies, with same-sex marriage legal since 2013.
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.
Uruguay: 7.79
Ranked 61st safest country in the world for women.
Why this rank?
The courts rate well, no attacks on women are recorded, and almost nobody says a husband can be justified in beating his wife. Only four in ten women feel safe out alone at night.
Is it safe to visit?
For a woman travelling alone, Uruguay is a reasonable choice.