Homicide

Intentional homicides per 100,000 people per year — lower is better.

0 – 1The norm across Western Europe and East Asia — lethal violence is vanishingly rare.
1 – 3Still better than the median country in the world.
3 – 5Around the global average — low by world standards, but several times the European rate.
5 – 10Violent crime is a visible part of daily life.
over 10The level the WHO regards as an epidemic of violence.

Sources: WHO estimates of rates of homicides · UN victims of intentional homicide · UN SDG indicator 16.1.1

Peace

Global Peace Index — safety, conflict and militarisation on a 1–5 scale, lower is better. The GPI sorts countries into five "states of peace"; our bands follow the same shape.

1 – 1.5The most peaceful tier — Iceland leads the world at 1.1, with Japan, the Nordics and the Low Countries close behind.
1.5 – 1.8Still very safe: Germany, Spain and Australia sit here.
1.8 – 2.2The global middle — the median country scores almost exactly 2.0. Peaceful day to day, but with more crime, unrest or heavier militarisation.
2.2 – 2.9Serious internal tension, as in Mexico, Colombia or Ethiopia.
over 2.9In or close to armed conflict — Haiti, Iran, Pakistan, and at the very bottom Russia and Ukraine near 3.4.

Source: Global Peace Index 2025

The GPI covers 163 states and skips the rest — mostly microstates and small islands. For the 17 it misses we estimate a score ourselves using the index's own published methodology (its 23 indicators, scoring bands and 60/40 internal/external weighting), from the same public data the GPI draws on: Gallup Global Safety Report · UNODC crime statistics · World Prison Brief · SIPRI Arms Transfers · World Bank military indicators · UNHCR Refugee Data Finder · Political Terror Scale.

Freedom

Human Freedom Index — personal and economic freedom on a 0–10 scale, higher is better.

8 – 10The freest quarter of the world — Western and Northern Europe, Japan, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand and North America — where personal and economic life are broadly unrestricted.
7 – 8Comfortably above the world average: free in daily life, with some weak spots.
6 – 7Around the middle of the pack — the world median is 6.9. Freer than not, but with real restrictions.
5 – 6Everyday life is noticeably constrained by censorship, weak rule of law or heavy state control.
under 5The world's most repressive states, such as China, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Syria.

Source: Human Freedom Index 2025

The HFI covers 165 jurisdictions and skips the rest — microstates on one side, and closed states like North Korea or Eritrea that don't publish the economic data it needs on the other. For the 16 it misses we estimate a score ourselves using the index's own published methodology (its 12 equally weighted categories of personal and economic freedom and their published transforms), from the same public data the HFI draws on: V-Dem · Freedom in the World · Worldwide Governance Indicators · World Bank money, tax and trade data · UNODC homicide statistics · UCDP conflict data · CPJ press-freedom censuses · OECD gender-rights data.

LGBT

Equaldex Equality Index — legal rights and public attitudes, rescaled from 0–100 to 0–10 to match the other columns, higher is better. Red is reserved for countries where homosexuality is a crime.

7 – 10The top tier — Iceland (9.3), Norway, Uruguay, Spain and New Zealand — where equal rights are law and daily life reflects it.
5 – 7Better than the median country: solid legal protection with patchier attitudes.
3 – 5Legal but second-class, with few protections and real social hostility.
under 3Legal on paper only, with open hostility in law and life, as in Russia or Jordan.
illegalDifferent in kind, not degree: homosexuality is a crime, and the cell shows the penalty rather than a score — from prison (Illegal), through a life sentence (Life), to execution (Death) or death by stoning (Stoning).

Sources: Equaldex Equality Index · Human Dignity Trust map of criminalisation · 2025 in LGBTQ rights