Is Bilwi safe?
Nicaragua · North America · data updated 2026-09-04
Bilwi is a city in Nicaragua, home to about 106k people, and one of 6,168 cities worldwide ranked on this site from published safety data. It currently ranks 4,486 of 6,168, with a safety score of 59.3 out of 100, which lands it in the middle band of the ranking.
Emergency 911 (ambulance, fire, police)
- US State Department: Reconsider travelOfficial travel advisory level 3 of 4 for Nicaragua, updated 2026-05-13.
- Elevated homicide rate5.45 homicides per 100,000 per year (national rate), about 2× the global city median.
- High income inequalityGini 46.2 puts Nicaragua in the most unequal quarter of countries - the strongest structural predictor of city violence in this dataset (street crime and robbery tend to track it).
No official source names specific areas to avoid here: travel advisories for Nicaragua are country-level, and no published dataset covers neighborhood-level crime - so this briefing does not invent it.
How safe is Bilwi really?
No published homicide figure exists for Bilwi itself, so the national rate stands in: Nicaragua recorded 5.5 homicides per 100,000 people in 2023 - roughly 2 times the global city median. The city itself may be safer or more dangerous than its country's average. That matters because income inequality is the strongest structural predictor of city violence in this dataset, and Nicaragua's Gini of 46.2 puts it in the most unequal quarter of countries - conditions under which street crime and robbery tend to be a real concern.
What the travel advisories say
The US State Department currently rates Nicaragua at level 3 of 4 - "Reconsider travel" (updated 2026-05-13). The UK Foreign Office publishes travel advice for Nicaragua without any avoid-travel warning in force. 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 Nicaragua
Terrorism in Nicaragua · Political situation · Violent crime · Taxi safety and criminal kidnap · Sexual assault · Risks when exchanging money · Illegal drugs and prison sentences · Flying drones · Swimming safety · Scuba diving · Road travel · Driving standards and road conditions · Boat and ferry travel · Hurricanes · +2 more
Topic headings from the official UK FCDO travel advice for Nicaragua — country-level, not specific to Bilwi. Read what each one says →
The numbers
- Homicide rate
- 5.5 /100knational rate, 2023 · ~2× the global city median
- Conflict deaths
- 0within 100 km, 2022-2024 (UCDP)
- Income inequality
- Gini 46.2country, 2014
- Human development
- HDI 0.706country, 2023
- Income
- $8,780/yrGNI per capita PPP · context only, not scored
- Population
- 106kurban centre · 5,602/km²
Country context for travelers
- Road deaths
- 16.9 /100kWHO, 2019 · often the biggest real travel risk
- Political stability
- 65/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · higher = more stable
- Rule of law
- 29/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · police and courts reliability
- Corruption perceptions
- 14/100Transparency International, 2025 · higher = cleaner
- Natural-hazard risk
- 4.3/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Women, Peace & Security
- 0.66Georgetown WPS Index, 2025 · 0-1, higher = better
- Air quality
- 20.4 µg/m³PM2.5 annual mean, 2023 · WHO guideline is 5
- Safely managed drinking water
- no dataof the population · WHO/UNICEF JMP
- Healthcare capacity
- 0.7 doctors /1k1.0 hospital beds per 1,000
- Malaria
- 1 /1k at riskWHO, 2024 · listed for endemic countries only
Natural hazards in Nicaragua
- Earthquake
- 8.2/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Tsunami
- 7.2/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Flood
- 5.0/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Cyclone
- 4.2/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Drought
- 3.9/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
Hazard types scoring under 1 out of 10 are not listed. These describe Nicaragua as a whole, not Bilwi specifically.
Same-sex sexual activity is legal in Nicaragua (as of 2025).
All country-level figures shared by every city in Nicaragua; none of them affect the safety score.
How the score works
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 Bilwi that gives 59.3/100. Full methodology, anchors and sources →
Bilwi compared with Managua
| Measure | Bilwi | Managua | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Safety score | 59.3 | 57.5 | +1.9 — better for Bilwi |
| Homicide ratecity-measured where published, otherwise the national rate | 5.5 /100k | 7.1 /100k | −1.6 /100k — better for Bilwi |
| Conflict deaths within 100 km | 0 | 0 | ±0 |
Differences are plain arithmetic between the two stored figures — nothing is modelled. Both cities are in Nicaragua, so they share every country-level figure and only the city-level ones are listed. Full report for Managua →
Nearby cities
- Matagalpa 59.3
- Esteli 59.3
- Masaya 57.5
- Managua 57.5
- Tegucigalpa, Honduras 39.8
- La Ceiba, Honduras 46.7
- Choluteca, Honduras 37.8
- León 59.3
See Bilwi on the interactive map → · Safest cities in North America → · Full travel briefings →