Is Dakhla safe?
Western Sahara · Africa · data updated 2026-09-04
Dakhla is a city in Western Sahara, home to about 163k people, and one of 6,168 cities worldwide ranked on this site from published safety data. For Dakhla there is not enough published data for an honest score - fewer than half of the ranking's factors are measured here, so it is listed as "no data" rather than guessed at.
Emergency 150 (ambulance, fire, police)
- UK FCDO advises against all travel to parts of this country2 named areas - see "areas to avoid" below.
Areas the UK FCDO advises against visiting country
- Areas in Western Sahara within 40km North and West of ‘the Berm’ boundary line, including the city of Es Semara
- Areas in Western Sahara the territory south and east of ‘the Berm’ boundary line
Named in the official UK travel advice for Western Sahara (in full or in part - the advisory lists exact boundaries and exceptions). These are country-level warnings and may be far from Dakhla.
How safe is Dakhla really?
Neither Dakhla nor Western Sahara 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.
What the travel advisories say
The UK Foreign Office advises against all travel to parts of this country, naming 2 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 Western Sahara
Terrorism in Western Sahara · Political situation · Ramadan · Laws against religious conversion · Sexual relations outside of marriage · LGBT+ travellers · Women travellers · Alcohol laws · Road travel
Topic headings from the official UK FCDO travel advice for Western Sahara — country-level, not specific to Dakhla. Read what each one says →
The numbers
- Homicide rate
- no data
- Conflict deaths
- 0within 100 km, 2022-2024 (UCDP)
- Income inequality
- no datacountry,
- Human development
- no datacountry,
- Income
- no dataGNI per capita PPP · context only, not scored
- Population
- 163kurban centre · 5,811/km²
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. Full methodology, anchors and sources →
Dakhla compared with Nouakchott
| Measure | Dakhla | Nouakchott | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Safety score | no data | 74.7 | — |
| Homicide ratecity-measured where published, otherwise the national rate | no data | 1.0 /100k | — |
| Conflict deaths within 100 km | 0 | 2 | −2 — better for Dakhla |
| Income inequality (Gini) | no data | 32.0 | — |
| Human development (HDI) | no data | 0.563 | — |
| Road deaths | no data | 25.6 /100k | — |
| Rule of law | no data | 42/100 | — |
| Corruption perceptions | no data | 30/100 | — |
| Air quality (PM2.5) | no data | 46.5 µg/m³ | — |
| Natural-hazard risk | no data | 5.3/10 | — |
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 Nouakchott →
Nearby cities
- Nouadhibou, Mauritania 77.7
- Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain 82.7
- Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain 82.7
- Nouakchott, Mauritania 74.7
- Guelmim, Morocco 71.4
- Saint-Louis, Senegal 77.2
- Louga, Senegal 77.2
- Aït Melloul, Morocco 71.4
See Dakhla on the interactive map → · Safest cities in Africa → · Full travel briefings →