Bamako scores 54 out of 100 (moderate safety) on World Safety Map, ranked 4936 of 6168 cities worldwide. The score combines the homicide rate, nearby conflict deaths, income equality and human development from published data (UNODC, UCDP, World Bank, UNDP).

Is Bamako safe?

Mali · Africa · data updated 2026-09-04

54.1Moderate · rank 4936 / 6,168
safer than 20% of ranked cities

Bamako is a city in Mali, home to about 4.2M people, and one of 6,168 cities worldwide ranked on this site from published safety data. It currently ranks 4,936 of 6,168, with a safety score of 54.1 out of 100, which lands it in the middle band of the ranking.

UK FCDO advises against all travel to this country

Emergency Police 17 · Ambulance 15 · Fire 18

UK FCDO advises against all travel to this countryOfficial UK government travel advice, updated 2026-07-10.

Deadliest recorded locations nearby

Bamako (main military airbase - Senou Air Base - and a gendarmerie school)87 deaths · 1 event
Mali's army [...] its main base outside the capital Bamako; at the garrison town of Kati9 deaths · 1 event
a Malian army checkpoint outside Bamako [...] the post of Zantiguila [...] The post is about 60 kilometers from Bamako; about 70 kilometres (43 miles) from the capital, an attack took place "at the checkpoint of Zantiguila, on the road to the central city of Segou"6 deaths · 1 event

UCDP-recorded organized-violence deaths within 100 km of Bamako, 2022-2024, at the locations the source itself names. Conflict deaths, not street crime.

How safe is Bamako really?

Neither Bamako nor Mali has a published homicide rate in the sources this site uses (UNODC and the Igarapé Homicide Monitor), so the strongest single indicator of city safety is simply missing here. Mali's income inequality is middling (Gini 35.7) - in this dataset inequality predicts city violence better than any other structural factor, so this neither raises nor lowers the picture much.

Bamako also carries some conflict exposure: UCDP recorded 119 deaths from organized violence within 100 km across 11 events in 2022-2024 - a factor crime statistics alone would miss. The deadliest recorded locations in that radius were Bamako (main military airbase - Senou Air Base - and a gendarmerie school) (87 deaths), Mali's army [...] its main base outside the capital Bamako; at the garrison town of Kati (9 deaths), a Malian army checkpoint outside Bamako [...] the post of Zantiguila [...] The post is about 60 kilometers from Bamako; about 70 kilometres (43 miles) from the capital, an attack took place "at the checkpoint of Zantiguila, on the road to the central city of Segou" (6 deaths).

What the travel advisories say

The UK Foreign Office advises against all travel to this country. Both advisories are country-level: no official source publishes verified neighborhood-level crime guidance for individual cities, which is why this page reports named areas only where an official source names them.

What to watch out for in Mali

Terrorism in Mali · Terrorist kidnap · Political situation · Personal safety · Criminal kidnapping · Vehicle crime · Personal ID · Ramadan · Using cameras · Commercial disputes · LGBT+ travellers · Road travel · Road safety · Fuel shortages · +2 more

Topic headings from the official UK FCDO travel advice for Mali — country-level, not specific to Bamako. Read what each one says →

The numbers

Homicide rate: no data
Conflict deaths: 119within 100 km, 2022-2024 (UCDP)
Income inequality: Gini 35.7country, 2021
Human development: HDI 0.419country, 2023
Income: $3,400/yrGNI per capita PPP · context only, not scored
Population: 4.2Murban centre · 8,389/km²

Country context for travelers

Road deaths: 22.7 /100kWHO, 2019 · often the biggest real travel risk
Political stability: 23/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · higher = more stable
Rule of law: 38/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · police and courts reliability
Corruption perceptions: 28/100Transparency International, 2025 · higher = cleaner
Natural-hazard risk: 7.3/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
Women, Peace & Security: 0.48Georgetown WPS Index, 2025 · 0-1, higher = better
Air quality: 35.5 µg/m³PM2.5 annual mean, 2023 · WHO guideline is 5
Safely managed drinking water: no dataof the population · WHO/UNICEF JMP
Healthcare capacity: 0.2 doctors /1k0.3 hospital beds per 1,000
Malaria: 346 /1k at riskWHO, 2024 · listed for endemic countries only

Natural hazards in Mali

Flood: 7.9/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
Drought: 6.7/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier

Hazard types scoring under 1 out of 10 are not listed. These describe Mali as a whole, not Bamako specifically.

Same-sex sexual activity is legal in Mali (as of 2025).

All country-level figures shared by every city in Mali; none of them affect the safety score.

How the score works

Low homicide40%no data

Peace25%48

Equality25%65

Development10%42

One fixed, calibrated mix for every city: 40% homicide · 25% peace · 25% equality · 10% HDI. Homicide and conflict deaths are measured outcomes; income inequality carries the structural share because it predicts real city violence far better than national income (which is shown above but scored at zero). Each factor maps to 0-100 against fixed anchors, missing data drops out and is never estimated, and cities with data behind less than half the weighting get “no data” instead of a score. For Bamako that gives 54.1/100. Full methodology, anchors and sources →

Bamako compared with Siguiri

The nearest ranked city of comparable size. Green favours Bamako, red favours Siguiri.
Measure	Bamako	Siguiri	Difference
Safety score	54.1	74.0	−19.9 — better for Siguiri
Homicide ratecity-measured where published, otherwise the national rate	no data	no data	—
Conflict deaths within 100 km	119	6	+113 — better for Siguiri
Income inequality (Gini)	35.7	29.6	+6.1 — better for Siguiri
Human development (HDI)	0.419	0.500	−0.081 — better for Siguiri
Road deaths	22.7 /100k	29.7 /100k	−7.0 /100k — better for Bamako
Rule of law	38/100	37/100	+1/100 — better for Bamako
Corruption perceptions	28/100	26/100	+2/100 — better for Bamako
Air quality (PM2.5)	35.5 µg/m³	27.3 µg/m³	+8.2 µg/m³ — better for Siguiri
Natural-hazard risk	7.3/10	4.8/10	+2.5/10 — better for Siguiri

Differences are plain arithmetic between the two stored figures — nothing is modelled. Country-level rows describe the two countries, not the cities themselves. Full report for Siguiri →

Nearby cities

See Bamako on the interactive map → · Safest cities in Africa → · Full travel briefings →