Is El Wak safe?
Kenya · Africa · data updated 2026-09-04
El Wak is a city in Kenya, home to about 209k people, and one of 6,168 cities worldwide ranked on this site from published safety data. It currently ranks 5,057 of 6,168, with a safety score of 52.4 out of 100 - mid-table: neither the data for concern nor the data for reassurance dominates.
Emergency 999 (ambulance, fire, police)
- UK FCDO advises against all travel to parts of this country9 named areas - see "areas to avoid" below.
- Same-sex activity criminalizedLaw on the books in Kenya as of 2025 (OWID legal-status series) - enforcement varies, but LGBTQ+ travelers face legal risk.
Deadliest recorded locations nearby
- Ogorweyn area,26 deaths · 1 event
- Elwak Town13 deaths · 1 event
- Guba, Elwak9 deaths · 1 event
UCDP-recorded organized-violence deaths within 100 km of El Wak, 2022-2024, at the locations the source itself names. Conflict deaths, not street crime.
Areas the UK FCDO advises against visiting country
- Kenya-Somalia border and northern parts of the east coast
- Mandera County
- Tarbaj and Wajir East constituencies in Wajir County, except for Wajir Town
- areas of Wajir County within 60km of Kenya’s border with Somalia
- Garissa County - except for Garissa Town, the constituency of Lagdera and the areas of Balambala constituency which lie north and west of the main road which runs from Saka on the Tana River up to the intersection with the C81 Road
- Lamu County, except for Lamu Island and Manda Island
- Garissa Town
- Tana River County north of the Tana River as far as the town of Saka
- within 15km of the east coast between the Tana River and the Galana (Athi-Galana-Sabaki) River
Named in the official UK travel advice for Kenya (in full or in part - the advisory lists exact boundaries and exceptions). These are country-level warnings and may be far from El Wak.
How safe is El Wak really?
No published homicide figure exists for El Wak itself, so the national rate stands in: Kenya recorded 4.7 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. Kenya's income inequality is middling (Gini 38.5) - in this dataset inequality predicts city violence better than any other structural factor, so this neither raises nor lowers the picture much.
El Wak also carries some conflict exposure: UCDP recorded 68 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 Ogorweyn area, (26 deaths), Elwak Town (13 deaths), Guba, Elwak (9 deaths).
What the travel advisories say
The US State Department currently rates Kenya at level 2 of 4 - "Exercise increased caution" (updated 2026-07-27). The UK Foreign Office advises against all travel to parts of this country, naming 9 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 Kenya
Terrorism in Kenya · Lamu Island and Manda Island · Terrorist kidnap · Political situation · Protecting your belongings · Vehicle crime · Scams · Drink and food spiking · Methanol poisoning · Attacks and sexual assault · Social media and dating apps · Personal ID · Dress code · Smoking and e-cigarette bans · +15 more
Topic headings from the official UK FCDO travel advice for Kenya — country-level, not specific to El Wak. Read what each one says →
The numbers
- Homicide rate
- 4.7 /100knational rate, 2024
- Conflict deaths
- 68within 100 km, 2022-2024 (UCDP)
- Income inequality
- Gini 38.5country, 2022
- Human development
- HDI 0.628country, 2023
- Income
- $6,910/yrGNI per capita PPP · context only, not scored
- Population
- 209kurban centre · 13,057/km²
Country context for travelers
- Road deaths
- 28.3 /100kWHO, 2019 · often the biggest real travel risk
- Political stability
- 43/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · higher = more stable
- Rule of law
- 49/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · police and courts reliability
- Corruption perceptions
- 30/100Transparency International, 2025 · higher = cleaner
- Natural-hazard risk
- 6.1/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Women, Peace & Security
- 0.54Georgetown WPS Index, 2025 · 0-1, higher = better
- Air quality
- 20.3 µg/m³PM2.5 annual mean, 2023 · WHO guideline is 5
- Safely managed drinking water
- no dataof the population · WHO/UNICEF JMP
- Healthcare capacity
- 0.3 doctors /1k1.3 hospital beds per 1,000
- Malaria
- 74 /1k at riskWHO, 2024 · listed for endemic countries only
Natural hazards in Kenya
- Drought
- 6.6/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Flood
- 5.2/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Tsunami
- 3.2/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Earthquake
- 2.7/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
Hazard types scoring under 1 out of 10 are not listed. These describe Kenya as a whole, not El Wak specifically.
Same-sex sexual activity is criminalized in Kenya (as of 2025). This describes the law on the books, not necessarily enforcement practice.
All country-level figures shared by every city in Kenya; 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 El Wak that gives 52.4/100. Full methodology, anchors and sources →
El Wak compared with Takaba
| Measure | El Wak | Takaba | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Safety score | 52.4 | 53.4 | −1.0 — better for Takaba |
| Homicide ratecity-measured where published, otherwise the national rate | 4.7 /100k | 4.7 /100k | ±0.0 /100k |
| Conflict deaths within 100 km | 68 | 47 | +21 — better for Takaba |
Differences are plain arithmetic between the two stored figures — nothing is modelled. Both cities are in Kenya, so they share every country-level figure and only the city-level ones are listed. Full report for Takaba →
Nearby cities
- Takaba 53.4
- Wajir 59.1
- Bardera, Somalia n/a
- Mandera 52.1
- Filtu, Ethiopia 62.5
- Wajid, Somalia n/a
- Melka Chireti, Ethiopia 60.6
- Baidoa, Somalia n/a
See El Wak on the interactive map → · Safest cities in Africa → · Full travel briefings →