Homosexual activity

Homosexuality is illegal in 62 countries and punishable by death in 8.

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  • Legal
  • Illegal (other penalty)
  • Male illegal, female legal
  • Male illegal, female uncertain
  • Illegal (death penalty as punishment)
  • Illegal (up to life in prison as punishment)
  • Illegal (imprisonment as punishment)
  • Unknown, N/A, or ambiguous

Recent Changes

Homosexual activity

Homosexual activity refers to consensual sexual activity between individuals of the same sex. While homosexual activity is legal in most countries around the world, there are several countries — mostly in Africa and the Middle East — where it is criminalized to a varying degree. Penalties can range from imprisonment all the way up to death penalty.

Homosexuality is commonly criminalized through sodomy laws (sometimes called a "buggery law" in British territories), which are laws that define sexual acts of crimes. Sodomy laws can sometimes prevent sexual activity between two individuals of the same sex. While some of these laws are not specific to homosexual sex (such as when referring to anal sex), they are usually used to target or criminalize gay people. In practice, these laws are difficult to actually enforce.

In some countries, the language of the criminal codes specifically refers to two men, meaning that lesbian sex is technically legal.

Some sodomy laws and penal codes date back to the 1700s and 1800s. Throughout the 1900s, many countries, US states, and other regions began decriminalizing homosexuality and removing references to homosexuality or sodomy from their criminal codes. This has continued over the past few decades.

Summary

162
Legal
162 regions (70%)
Legal
62
Illegal
62 regions (27%)
Illegal
8
No data, no laws, N/A, or ambiguous
8 regions (3%)
No data, no laws, N/A, or ambiguous
Europe
98%
LEGAL EQUALITY
Legal
51 regions (98%)
Illegal
regions (0%)
No data, no laws, N/A, or ambiguous
1 regions (2%)
Oceania
71%
LEGAL EQUALITY
Legal
17 regions (71%)
Illegal
7 regions (29%)
No data, no laws, N/A, or ambiguous
regions (0%)
South America
93%
LEGAL EQUALITY
Legal
13 regions (93%)
Illegal
1 regions (7%)
No data, no laws, N/A, or ambiguous
regions (0%)
North America
86%
LEGAL EQUALITY
Legal
31 regions (86%)
Illegal
5 regions (14%)
No data, no laws, N/A, or ambiguous
regions (0%)
Africa
44%
LEGAL EQUALITY
Legal
26 regions (44%)
Illegal
32 regions (54%)
No data, no laws, N/A, or ambiguous
1 regions (2%)
Asia
50%
LEGAL EQUALITY
Legal
23 regions (50%)
Illegal
17 regions (37%)
No data, no laws, N/A, or ambiguous
6 regions (13%)

Progress over time

Number of countries with equality for homosexual activity over the past 60 years.

Recent changes

Homosexual activity by country

(and dependent territories)

Legal

Homosexual activity is legal in 162 regions.

  1. South America (13)
  2. Argentina 1987
  3. Bolivia 1832
  4. Brazil 1830
  5. Chile 1998
  6. Colombia 2000
  7. Ecuador 1997
  8. Falkland Islands 1989
  9. French Guiana 1791
  10. Paraguay 1997
  11. Peru 1991
  12. Suriname 1910
  13. Uruguay 1933
  14. Venezuela 1997
  15. Antarctica (1)
  16. Antarctica

Illegal (other penalty)

Homosexual activity is illegal (other penalty) in 3 regions.

  1. Asia (1)
  2. Qatar
  3. Africa (2)
  4. Nigeria 1916
  5. Uganda 2023

Male illegal, female legal

Homosexual activity is male illegal, female legal in 18 regions.

  1. Asia (3)
  2. Kuwait 1960
  3. Turkmenistan 1998
  4. Uzbekistan 1994
  5. North America (3)
  6. Grenada 1987
  7. Jamaica 1864
  8. Saint Lucia 2005
  9. Africa (6)
  10. Eswatini 2004
  11. Ghana 1960
  12. Mauritius 1838
  13. Namibia
  14. Sierra Leone 1861
  15. Zimbabwe 2006
  16. Oceania (6)
  17. Kiribati
  18. Niue
  19. Papua New Guinea 2002
  20. Samoa 1961
  21. Tonga 1988
  22. Tuvalu 2017

Male illegal, female uncertain

Homosexual activity is male illegal, female uncertain in 2 regions.

  1. Asia (1)
  2. Myanmar 2016
  3. South America (1)
  4. Guyana 2016

Illegal (death penalty as punishment)

Homosexual activity is illegal (death penalty as punishment) in 8 regions.

  1. Africa (2)
  2. Mauritania 1983
  3. Somalia 1991

Illegal (up to life in prison as punishment)

Homosexual activity is illegal (up to life in prison as punishment) in 5 regions.

  1. Asia (1)
  2. Bangladesh 1860
  3. Africa (4)
  4. Gambia 2014
  5. Sudan 2020
  6. Tanzania 1998
  7. Zambia 1931

Illegal (imprisonment as punishment)

Homosexual activity is illegal (imprisonment as punishment) in 26 regions.

  1. Asia (5)
  2. Malaysia 1826
  3. Maldives
  4. Oman 1974
  5. Pakistan 1860
  6. Sri Lanka 1885
  7. North America (2)
  8. Dominica 1998
  9. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 1990
  10. Africa (18)
  11. Algeria 1966
  12. Burundi 2009
  13. Cameroon 1967
  14. Chad 2017
  15. Comoros 1982
  16. Eritrea 1957
  17. Ethiopia
  18. Guinea 2016
  19. Kenya 1930
  20. Liberia 1976
  21. Libya 1953
  22. Malawi 1930
  23. Morocco 1962
  24. Senegal 1966
  25. South Sudan 2011
  26. Togo 1980
  27. Tunisia 1913
  28. Western Sahara 1975
  29. Oceania (1)
  30. Solomon Islands 1978

No data, no laws, N/A, or ambiguous

Data on homosexual activity is unclear, not applicable, or missing in 8 regions.

  1. Europe (1)
  2. Russia
  3. Africa (1)
  4. Egypt

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