Is Ferkéssédougou safe?

Q: Is Ferkéssédougou safe?

Ferkéssédougou scores 59 out of 100 (moderate safety) on World Safety Map, ranked 4479 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).

Cote d'Ivoire · Africa · data updated 2026-09-04

59.4Moderate · rank 4479 / 6,168
safer than 27% of ranked cities

Ferkéssédougou is a city in Cote d'Ivoire, home to about 113k people, and one of 6,168 cities worldwide ranked on this site from published safety data. It currently ranks 4,479 of 6,168, with a safety score of 59.4 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 Ambulance 185 · Fire 180 · Police 110, 111 or 170

UK FCDO advises against all travel to parts of this country5 named areas - see "areas to avoid" below.

Deadliest recorded locations nearby

Niangoloko area, Comoé9 deaths · 1 event
Folonzo5 deaths · 1 event
Quangolodougou5 deaths · 1 event

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

Areas the UK FCDO advises against visiting country

Borders with Burkina Faso and Mali
Côte d’Ivoire-Liberia border
within 40km of the borders with Burkina Faso and Mali
Northern Zanzan and Savanes provinces
Comoé National Park

Named in the official UK travel advice for Cote d'Ivoire (in full or in part - the advisory lists exact boundaries and exceptions). These are country-level warnings and may be far from Ferkéssédougou.

How safe is Ferkéssédougou really?

Neither Ferkéssédougou nor Cote d'Ivoire 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. Cote d'Ivoire's income inequality is middling (Gini 35.3) - in this dataset inequality predicts city violence better than any other structural factor, so this neither raises nor lowers the picture much.

Ferkéssédougou also carries some conflict exposure: UCDP recorded 73 deaths from organized violence within 100 km across 11 events in 2022-2024 - a factor crime statistics alone would miss. The deadliest recorded locations in that radius were Niangoloko area, Comoé (9 deaths), Folonzo (5 deaths), Quangolodougou (5 deaths).

What the travel advisories say

The US State Department currently rates Cote d'Ivoire at level 2 of 4 - "Exercise increased caution" (updated 2026-02-17). The UK Foreign Office advises against all travel to parts of this country, naming 5 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 Cote d'Ivoire

Terrorism in Côte d’Ivoire · Political situation · Personal security measures · Street crime · Vehicle crime · Personal ID · Dress code · Illegal drugs and prison sentences · Using cameras in secure areas · LGBT+ travellers · Road travel · Road conditions · Public transport · Taxis · +3 more

Topic headings from the official UK FCDO travel advice for Cote d'Ivoire — country-level, not specific to Ferkéssédougou. Read what each one says →

The numbers

Homicide rate: no data
Conflict deaths: 73within 100 km, 2022-2024 (UCDP)
Income inequality: Gini 35.3country, 2021
Human development: HDI 0.582country, 2023
Income: $7,750/yrGNI per capita PPP · context only, not scored
Population: 113kurban centre · 5,674/km²

Country context for travelers

Road deaths: 24.1 /100kWHO, 2019 · often the biggest real travel risk
Political stability: 51/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · higher = more stable
Rule of law: 47/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · police and courts reliability
Corruption perceptions: 43/100Transparency International, 2025 · higher = cleaner
Natural-hazard risk: 5.2/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
Women, Peace & Security: 0.59Georgetown 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: 36%of the population, 2024 · WHO/UNICEF JMP
Healthcare capacity: 0.2 doctors /1k0.4 hospital beds per 1,000
Malaria: 268 /1k at riskWHO, 2024 · listed for endemic countries only

Natural hazards in Cote d'Ivoire

Flood: 4.8/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier

Hazard types scoring under 1 out of 10 are not listed. These describe Cote d'Ivoire as a whole, not Ferkéssédougou specifically.

Same-sex sexual activity is legal in Cote d'Ivoire (as of 2025).

All country-level figures shared by every city in Cote d'Ivoire; none of them affect the safety score.

How the score works

Low homicide40%no data

Peace25%53

Equality25%66

Development10%58

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 Ferkéssédougou that gives 59.4/100. Full methodology, anchors and sources →

Ferkéssédougou compared with Bobo-Dioulasso

The nearest ranked city of comparable size. Green favours Ferkéssédougou, red favours Bobo-Dioulasso.
Measure	Ferkéssédougou	Bobo-Dioulasso	Difference
Safety score	59.4	49.2	+10.2 — better for Ferkéssédougou
Homicide ratecity-measured where published, otherwise the national rate	no data	no data	—
Conflict deaths within 100 km	73	291	−218 — better for Ferkéssédougou
Income inequality (Gini)	35.3	37.4	−2.1 — better for Ferkéssédougou
Human development (HDI)	0.582	0.459	+0.123 — better for Ferkéssédougou
Road deaths	24.1 /100k	31.0 /100k	−6.9 /100k — better for Ferkéssédougou
Rule of law	47/100	42/100	+5/100 — better for Ferkéssédougou
Corruption perceptions	43/100	40/100	+3/100 — better for Ferkéssédougou
Air quality (PM2.5)	20.4 µg/m³	37.3 µg/m³	−16.9 µg/m³ — better for Ferkéssédougou
Natural-hazard risk	5.2/10	7.3/10	−2.1/10 — better for Ferkéssédougou

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 Bobo-Dioulasso →

Nearby cities

See Ferkéssédougou on the interactive map → · Safest cities in Africa → · Full travel briefings →