Foumban scores 41 out of 100 (moderate safety) on World Safety Map, ranked 5735 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 Foumban safe?

Cameroon · Africa · data updated 2026-09-04

41.5Moderate · rank 5735 / 6,168
safer than 7% of ranked cities

Foumban is a city in Cameroon, home to about 182k people, and one of 6,168 cities worldwide ranked on this site from published safety data. It currently ranks 5,735 of 6,168, with a safety score of 41.5 out of 100, which lands it in the middle band of the ranking.

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

Emergency Ambulance 112 · Fire 119 · Police 117

Armed conflict nearbyUCDP recorded 607 deaths from organized violence within 100 km in 2022-2024 (243 events). Crime figures do not capture war risk.
UK FCDO advises against all travel to parts of this country13 named areas - see "areas to avoid" below.
Elevated homicide rate6.76 homicides per 100,000 per year (national rate), about 2× the global city median.
Same-sex activity criminalizedLaw on the books in Cameroon as of 2025 (OWID legal-status series) - enforcement varies, but LGBTQ+ travelers face legal risk.

Deadliest recorded locations nearby

Bamenda25 deaths · 13 events
Bambui16 deaths · 3 events
Bamenda city14 deaths · 5 events

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

Areas the UK FCDO advises against visiting country

Bakassi Peninsula
Cameroon-Central African Republic border
Cameroon-Chad border
Cameroon-Nigeria border
Far-North Region
North-West Region
South-West Region
Limbé
North Region, Adamawa Region and Maroua
Adamawa Region
a 20km radius to the north, east and west of Maroua
30km south of Maroua
the 35km stretch of the N3 road connecting Limbé to the Littoral Region in Fako Division

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

How safe is Foumban really?

No published homicide figure exists for Foumban itself, so the national rate stands in: Cameroon recorded 6.8 homicides per 100,000 people in 2022 - roughly 2 times the global city median. The city itself may be safer or more dangerous than its country's average. Cameroon's income inequality is middling (Gini 42.2) - in this dataset inequality predicts city violence better than any other structural factor, so this neither raises nor lowers the picture much.

Crime statistics are not the main story here: the Uppsala Conflict Data Program recorded 607 deaths from organized violence - war, armed conflict, militia or cartel fighting - within 100 km of Foumban across 243 events in 2022-2024. That is active-conflict territory, and ordinary crime figures say nothing about it. The deadliest recorded locations in that radius were Bamenda (25 deaths), Bambui (16 deaths), Bamenda city (14 deaths).

What the travel advisories say

The US State Department currently rates Cameroon at level 2 of 4 - "Exercise increased caution" (updated 2026-05-14). The UK Foreign Office advises against all travel to parts of this country, naming 13 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 Cameroon

Terrorism in Cameroon · Bomb attacks · Armed robbery · Burglary and petty theft · Unofficial taxis · Violent crime near borders and roads · Criminal kidnapping · Adoption scams · Personal ID · Camouflage clothing · Illegal drugs and prison sentences · Using cameras in secure areas · LGBT+ travellers · Wildlife, animal products and souvenirs · +5 more

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

The numbers

Homicide rate: 6.8 /100knational rate, 2022 · ~2× the global city median
Conflict deaths: 607within 100 km, 2022-2024 (UCDP)
Income inequality: Gini 42.2country, 2021
Human development: HDI 0.588country, 2023
Income: $5,700/yrGNI per capita PPP · context only, not scored
Population: 182kurban centre · 7,595/km²

Country context for travelers

Road deaths: 30.2 /100kWHO, 2019 · often the biggest real travel risk
Political stability: 39/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · higher = more stable
Rule of law: 35/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · police and courts reliability
Corruption perceptions: 26/100Transparency International, 2025 · higher = cleaner
Natural-hazard risk: 6.7/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
Women, Peace & Security: 0.45Georgetown WPS Index, 2025 · 0-1, higher = better
Air quality: 55.6 µg/m³PM2.5 annual mean, 2023 · WHO guideline is 5
Safely managed drinking water: no dataof the population · WHO/UNICEF JMP
Healthcare capacity: 0.1 doctors /1k2.7 hospital beds per 1,000
Malaria: 261 /1k at riskWHO, 2024 · listed for endemic countries only

Natural hazards in Cameroon

Flood: 6.6/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
Drought: 3.4/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier

Hazard types scoring under 1 out of 10 are not listed. These describe Cameroon as a whole, not Foumban specifically.

Same-sex sexual activity is criminalized in Cameroon (as of 2025). This describes the law on the books, not necessarily enforcement practice.

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

How the score works

Low homicide40%38

Peace25%30

Equality25%51

Development10%59

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 Foumban that gives 41.5/100. Full methodology, anchors and sources →

Foumban compared with Yaoundé

The nearest ranked city of comparable size. Green favours Foumban, red favours Yaoundé.
Measure	Foumban	Yaoundé	Difference
Safety score	41.5	55.9	−14.4 — better for Yaoundé
Homicide ratecity-measured where published, otherwise the national rate	6.8 /100k	6.8 /100k	±0.0 /100k
Conflict deaths within 100 km	607	2	+605 — better for Yaoundé

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

Nearby cities

Kumbo 41.1
Bafoussam 41.3
Bamenda 40.6
Nkongsamba 44.6
Kumba 44.8
Obudu, Nigeria 42.5
Yaoundé 55.9
Douala 45.1

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