Is Kara safe?
Togo · Africa · data updated 2026-09-04
Kara is a city in Togo, home to about 193k people, and one of 6,168 cities worldwide ranked on this site from published safety data. It currently ranks 3,534 of 6,168, with a safety score of 69.0 out of 100, placing it clearly above the global midpoint.
Emergency Ambulance 8200 · Fire 118 · Police 117 or 177
- UK FCDO advises against all travel to parts of this country3 named areas - see "areas to avoid" below.
- Same-sex activity criminalizedLaw on the books in Togo as of 2025 (OWID legal-status series) - enforcement varies, but LGBTQ+ travelers face legal risk.
Areas the UK FCDO advises against visiting country
- Togo-Burkina Faso border
- Savanes Region
- the city of Dapaong and the N1 highway leading to it from the south.
Named in the official UK travel advice for Togo (in full or in part - the advisory lists exact boundaries and exceptions). These are country-level warnings and may be far from Kara.
How safe is Kara really?
Neither Kara nor Togo 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. Togo's income inequality is middling (Gini 37.9) - in this dataset inequality predicts city violence better than any other structural factor, so this neither raises nor lowers the picture much.
Kara also carries some conflict exposure: UCDP recorded 4 deaths from organized violence within 100 km across 1 events in 2022-2024 - a factor crime statistics alone would miss.
What the travel advisories say
The US State Department currently rates Togo at level 2 of 4 - "Exercise increased caution" (updated 2026-03-08). The UK Foreign Office advises against all travel to parts of this country, naming 3 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 Togo
Terrorism in Togo · Terrorist kidnap · Political situation · Togo-Burkina Faso border · Togo’s other borders · Scams · Personal ID · Illegal drugs and prison sentences · Using cameras in secure areas · LGBT+ travellers · Money · Swimming safety · Road travel · Road conditions · +1 more
Topic headings from the official UK FCDO travel advice for Togo — country-level, not specific to Kara. Read what each one says →
The numbers
- Homicide rate
- no data
- Conflict deaths
- 4within 100 km, 2022-2024 (UCDP)
- Income inequality
- Gini 37.9country, 2021
- Human development
- HDI 0.571country, 2023
- Income
- $4,090/yrGNI per capita PPP · context only, not scored
- Population
- 193kurban centre · 4,478/km²
Country context for travelers
- Road deaths
- 28.7 /100kWHO, 2019 · often the biggest real travel risk
- Political stability
- 52/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · higher = more stable
- Rule of law
- 46/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · police and courts reliability
- Corruption perceptions
- 32/100Transparency International, 2025 · higher = cleaner
- Natural-hazard risk
- 5.5/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Women, Peace & Security
- 0.56Georgetown WPS Index, 2025 · 0-1, higher = better
- Air quality
- 34.3 µg/m³PM2.5 annual mean, 2023 · WHO guideline is 5
- Safely managed drinking water
- 21%of the population, 2024 · WHO/UNICEF JMP
- Healthcare capacity
- 0.1 doctors /1k0.3 hospital beds per 1,000
- Malaria
- 249 /1k at riskWHO, 2024 · listed for endemic countries only
Natural hazards in Togo
- Flood
- 3.0/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Drought
- 1.3/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
Hazard types scoring under 1 out of 10 are not listed. These describe Togo as a whole, not Kara specifically.
Same-sex sexual activity is criminalized in Togo (as of 2025). This describes the law on the books, not necessarily enforcement practice.
All country-level figures shared by every city in Togo; 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 Kara that gives 69.0/100. Full methodology, anchors and sources →
Kara compared with Tamale
| Measure | Kara | Tamale | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Safety score | 69.0 | 67.7 | +1.3 — better for Kara |
| Homicide ratecity-measured where published, otherwise the national rate | no data | 1.8 /100k | — |
| Conflict deaths within 100 km | 4 | 0 | +4 — better for Tamale |
| Income inequality (Gini) | 37.9 | 43.5 | −5.6 — better for Kara |
| Human development (HDI) | 0.571 | 0.628 | −0.057 — better for Tamale |
| Road deaths | 28.7 /100k | 25.7 /100k | +3.0 /100k — better for Tamale |
| Rule of law | 46/100 | 58/100 | −12/100 — better for Tamale |
| Corruption perceptions | 32/100 | 43/100 | −11/100 — better for Tamale |
| Air quality (PM2.5) | 34.3 µg/m³ | 28.1 µg/m³ | +6.2 µg/m³ — better for Tamale |
| Natural-hazard risk | 5.5/10 | 5.1/10 | +0.4/10 — better for Tamale |
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 Tamale →
Nearby cities
- Djougou, Benin 78.6
- Sokodé 76.3
- Yendi, Ghana 63.3
- Blitta-Gare 76.3
- Parakou, Benin 78.6
- Dapaong 41.6
- Anié 76.3
- Tamale, Ghana 67.7
See Kara on the interactive map → · Safest cities in Africa → · Full travel briefings →