Is Cotonou safe?
Benin · Africa · data updated 2026-09-04
Cotonou is a city in Benin, home to about 2.5M people, and one of 6,168 cities worldwide ranked on this site from published safety data. It currently ranks 3,789 of 6,168, with a safety score of 66.6 out of 100 - comfortably in the safer part of the ranking.
Emergency Fire and ambulance 118 · Police 117
- UK FCDO advises against all travel to parts of this country6 named areas - see "areas to avoid" below.
Deadliest recorded locations nearby
- Ijanikin area of Lagos6 deaths · 2 events
UCDP-recorded organized-violence deaths within 100 km of Cotonou, 2022-2024, at the locations the source itself names. Conflict deaths, not street crime.
Areas the UK FCDO advises against visiting country
- Northern border regions
- Eastern Benin
- Alibori and Atacora
- the area between the Parc du W and the border with Niger
- the Pendjari National Park and adjacent hunting grounds
- all other areas within 5km of the border with Burkina Faso
Named in the official UK travel advice for Benin (in full or in part - the advisory lists exact boundaries and exceptions). These are country-level warnings and may be far from Cotonou.
How safe is Cotonou really?
Neither Cotonou nor Benin 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. Benin's income inequality is middling (Gini 34.4) - in this dataset inequality predicts city violence better than any other structural factor, so this neither raises nor lowers the picture much.
Cotonou also carries some conflict exposure: UCDP recorded 13 deaths from organized violence within 100 km across 8 events in 2022-2024 - a factor crime statistics alone would miss. The deadliest recorded locations in that radius were Ijanikin area of Lagos (6 deaths).
What the travel advisories say
The US State Department currently rates Benin at level 2 of 4 - "Exercise increased caution" (updated 2026-01-06). The UK Foreign Office advises against all travel to parts of this country, naming 6 specific areas - listed above with the official advisory linked for exact boundaries and exceptions. 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 Benin
Terrorism in Benin · Terrorist kidnap · Political situation · Street crime · Vehicle crime · Scams · Voodoo culture · Illegal drugs and prison sentences · Using cameras in secure areas · LGBT+ travellers · Bribes · Swimming safety · Road travel · Sea travel
Topic headings from the official UK FCDO travel advice for Benin — country-level, not specific to Cotonou. Read what each one says →
The numbers
- Homicide rate
- no data
- Conflict deaths
- 13within 100 km, 2022-2024 (UCDP)
- Income inequality
- Gini 34.4country, 2021
- Human development
- HDI 0.515country, 2023
- Income
- $4,760/yrGNI per capita PPP · context only, not scored
- Population
- 2.5Murban centre · 5,023/km²
- Nearest airport
- 5 kmCotonou Cadjehoun International Airport (COO) · also LOS, 107 km
Straight-line distance from the city centre, not drive time. Scheduled-service airports only (OurAirports).
Country context for travelers
- Road deaths
- 26.8 /100kWHO, 2019 · often the biggest real travel risk
- Political stability
- 59/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · higher = more stable
- Rule of law
- 50/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · police and courts reliability
- Corruption perceptions
- 45/100Transparency International, 2025 · higher = cleaner
- Natural-hazard risk
- 6.1/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Women, Peace & Security
- 0.59Georgetown WPS Index, 2025 · 0-1, higher = better
- Air quality
- 39.7 µg/m³PM2.5 annual mean, 2023 · WHO guideline is 5
- Safely managed drinking water
- 18%of the population, 2024 · WHO/UNICEF JMP
- Healthcare capacity
- 0.2 doctors /1k0.4 hospital beds per 1,000
- Malaria
- 354 /1k at riskWHO, 2024 · listed for endemic countries only
Natural hazards in Benin
- Flood
- 6.7/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
Hazard types scoring under 1 out of 10 are not listed. These describe Benin as a whole, not Cotonou specifically.
Same-sex sexual activity is legal in Benin (as of 2025).
All country-level figures shared by every city in Benin; 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 Cotonou that gives 66.6/100. Full methodology, anchors and sources →
Cotonou compared with Porto-Novo
| Measure | Cotonou | Porto-Novo | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Safety score | 66.6 | 61.1 | +5.6 — better for Cotonou |
| Homicide ratecity-measured where published, otherwise the national rate | no data | no data | — |
| Conflict deaths within 100 km | 13 | 47 | −34 — better for Cotonou |
Differences are plain arithmetic between the two stored figures — nothing is modelled. Both cities are in Benin, so they share every country-level figure and only the city-level ones are listed. Full report for Porto-Novo →
Nearby cities
- Porto-Novo 61.1
- Whydah 72.3
- Idi-Iroko, Nigeria 45.7
- Pobè 60.1
- Agbara, Nigeria 44.5
- Lokossa 78.6
- Ilaro, Nigeria 44.4
- Bohicon 72.3
See Cotonou on the interactive map → · Safest cities in Africa → · Full travel briefings →