Davao City scores 54 out of 100 (moderate safety) on World Safety Map, ranked 4959 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 Davao City safe?

Philippines · Asia · data updated 2026-09-04

53.8Moderate · rank 4959 / 6,168
safer than 20% of ranked cities

Davao City is a city in Philippines, home to about 1.5M people, and one of 6,168 cities worldwide ranked on this site from published safety data. It currently ranks 4,959 of 6,168, with a safety score of 53.8 out of 100 - mid-table: neither the data for concern nor the data for reassurance dominates.

US 2/4 Exercise increased caution UK FCDO advises against all travel to parts of this country

Emergency 911 (ambulance, fire, police)

UK FCDO advises against all travel to parts of this country4 named areas - see "areas to avoid" below.

Deadliest recorded locations nearby

Barangay Dalgan11 deaths · 2 events
Barangay Dalgan and adjacent villages11 deaths · 1 event
Dalgan, Pagalungan, Maguindanao del Sur9 deaths · 1 event

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

Areas the UK FCDO advises against visiting country

Mindanao and the Sulu archipelago
Camiguin Island
Dinagat Island
Siargao Island

Named in the official UK travel advice for Philippines (in full or in part - the advisory lists exact boundaries and exceptions). These are country-level warnings and may be far from Davao City.

How safe is Davao City really?

No published homicide figure exists for Davao City itself, so the national rate stands in: Philippines recorded 4.3 homicides per 100,000 people in 2024 - close to the global city median. The city itself may be safer or more dangerous than its country's average. Philippines's income inequality is middling (Gini 39.3) - in this dataset inequality predicts city violence better than any other structural factor, so this neither raises nor lowers the picture much.

Davao City also carries some conflict exposure: UCDP recorded 60 deaths from organized violence within 100 km across 15 events in 2022-2024 - a factor crime statistics alone would miss. The deadliest recorded locations in that radius were Barangay Dalgan (11 deaths), Barangay Dalgan and adjacent villages (11 deaths), Dalgan, Pagalungan, Maguindanao del Sur (9 deaths).

What the travel advisories say

The US State Department currently rates Philippines at level 2 of 4 - "Exercise increased caution" (updated 2025-05-07). The UK Foreign Office advises against all travel to parts of this country, naming 4 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 Philippines

Terrorism in the Philippines · Terrorist kidnapping · Methanol poisoning · Sexual assault · Criminal kidnapping · Personal ID · Public offences · Demonstrations and rallies · Illegal drugs and prison sentences · Laws on child abuse and rape · LGBT+ travellers · Water safety · Scuba diving · Road travel · +5 more

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

The numbers

Homicide rate: 4.3 /100knational rate, 2024
Conflict deaths: 60within 100 km, 2022-2024 (UCDP)
Income inequality: Gini 39.3country, 2023
Human development: HDI 0.720country, 2023
Income: $14,460/yrGNI per capita PPP · context only, not scored
Population: 1.5Murban centre · 6,811/km²

Country context for travelers

Road deaths: 12.0 /100kWHO, 2019 · often the biggest real travel risk
Political stability: 53/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · higher = more stable
Rule of law: 47/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · police and courts reliability
Corruption perceptions: 32/100Transparency International, 2025 · higher = cleaner
Natural-hazard risk: 5.3/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
Women, Peace & Security: 0.61Georgetown WPS Index, 2025 · 0-1, higher = better
Air quality: 22.2 µg/m³PM2.5 annual mean, 2023 · WHO guideline is 5
Safely managed drinking water: 49%of the population, 2024 · WHO/UNICEF JMP
Healthcare capacity: 0.8 doctors /1k1.0 hospital beds per 1,000
Malaria: 0 /1k at riskWHO, 2024 · listed for endemic countries only

Natural hazards in Philippines

Earthquake: 9.6/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
Tsunami: 9.4/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
Cyclone: 9.2/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
Flood: 6.7/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
Drought: 3.5/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier

Hazard types scoring under 1 out of 10 are not listed. These describe Philippines as a whole, not Davao City specifically.

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

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

How the score works

Low homicide40%46

Peace25%55

Equality25%57

Development10%72

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 Davao City that gives 53.8/100. Full methodology, anchors and sources →

Davao City compared with Cagayan de Oro

The nearest ranked city of comparable size. Green favours Davao City, red favours Cagayan de Oro.
Measure	Davao City	Cagayan de Oro	Difference
Safety score	53.8	52.1	+1.6 — better for Davao City
Homicide ratecity-measured where published, otherwise the national rate	4.3 /100k	4.3 /100k	±0.0 /100k
Conflict deaths within 100 km	60	111	−51 — better for Davao City

Differences are plain arithmetic between the two stored figures — nothing is modelled. Both cities are in Philippines, so they share every country-level figure and only the city-level ones are listed. Full report for Cagayan de Oro →

Nearby cities

See Davao City on the interactive map → · Safest cities in Asia → · Full travel briefings →