Is Kaya safe?
Burkina Faso · Africa · data updated 2026-09-04
Kaya is a city in Burkina Faso, home to about 143k people, and one of 6,168 cities worldwide ranked on this site from published safety data. It currently ranks 5,825 of 6,168, with a safety score of 39.8 out of 100, placing it clearly below the global midpoint.
Emergency Ambulance 18 · Fire 18 · Police 17
- Armed conflict nearbyUCDP recorded 2,317 deaths from organized violence within 100 km in 2022-2024 (205 events). Crime figures do not capture war risk.
- US State Department: Do not travelOfficial travel advisory level 4 of 4 for Burkina Faso, updated 2026-05-03.
- UK FCDO advises against all travel to this countryOfficial UK government travel advice, updated 2025-12-10.
Deadliest recorded locations nearby
- village of Barsalogho in north-central Burkina Faso400 deaths · 2 events
- Kourao, Bam84 deaths · 1 event
- village of Zaongo, commune of Boala, located approximately sixty (60) kilometers from Boulsa in the North Central region70 deaths · 1 event
UCDP-recorded organized-violence deaths within 100 km of Kaya, 2022-2024, at the locations the source itself names. Conflict deaths, not street crime.
How safe is Kaya really?
Neither Kaya nor Burkina Faso 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. Burkina Faso's income inequality is middling (Gini 37.4) - 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 2,317 deaths from organized violence - war, armed conflict, militia or cartel fighting - within 100 km of Kaya across 205 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 village of Barsalogho in north-central Burkina Faso (400 deaths), Kourao, Bam (84 deaths), village of Zaongo, commune of Boala, located approximately sixty (60) kilometers from Boulsa in the North Central region (70 deaths).
What the travel advisories say
The US State Department currently rates Burkina Faso at level 4 of 4 - "Do not travel" (updated 2026-05-03). The UK Foreign Office advises against all travel to this country. 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 Burkina Faso
Terrorism in Burkina Faso · Terrorist kidnap · Political situation · Vehicle crime · Street crime · Criminal kidnapping · Personal ID · Ramadan · Illegal drugs and prison sentences · Using cameras and filmmaking · LGBT+ travellers · Souvenirs · Money · Road travel · +2 more
Topic headings from the official UK FCDO travel advice for Burkina Faso — country-level, not specific to Kaya. Read what each one says →
The numbers
- Homicide rate
- no data
- Conflict deaths
- 2,317within 100 km, 2022-2024 (UCDP)
- Income inequality
- Gini 37.4country, 2021
- Human development
- HDI 0.459country, 2023
- Income
- $2,890/yrGNI per capita PPP · context only, not scored
- Population
- 143kurban centre · 4,091/km²
Country context for travelers
- Road deaths
- 31.0 /100kWHO, 2019 · often the biggest real travel risk
- Political stability
- 33/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · higher = more stable
- Rule of law
- 42/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · police and courts reliability
- Corruption perceptions
- 40/100Transparency International, 2025 · higher = cleaner
- Natural-hazard risk
- 7.3/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Women, Peace & Security
- 0.51Georgetown WPS Index, 2025 · 0-1, higher = better
- Air quality
- 37.3 µg/m³PM2.5 annual mean, 2023 · WHO guideline is 5
- Safely managed drinking water
- no dataof the population · WHO/UNICEF JMP
- Healthcare capacity
- 0.1 doctors /1k0.2 hospital beds per 1,000
- Malaria
- 354 /1k at riskWHO, 2024 · listed for endemic countries only
Natural hazards in Burkina Faso
- Drought
- 5.1/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Flood
- 2.2/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
Hazard types scoring under 1 out of 10 are not listed. These describe Burkina Faso as a whole, not Kaya specifically.
Same-sex sexual activity is legal in Burkina Faso (as of 2025).
All country-level figures shared by every city in Burkina Faso; 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 Kaya that gives 39.8/100. Full methodology, anchors and sources →
Kaya compared with Ouagadougou
| Measure | Kaya | Ouagadougou | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Safety score | 39.8 | 50.3 | −10.5 — better for Ouagadougou |
| Homicide ratecity-measured where published, otherwise the national rate | no data | no data | — |
| Conflict deaths within 100 km | 2,317 | 227 | +2,090 — better for Ouagadougou |
Differences are plain arithmetic between the two stored figures — nothing is modelled. Both cities are in Burkina Faso, so they share every country-level figure and only the city-level ones are listed. Full report for Ouagadougou →
Nearby cities
- Ouagadougou 50.3
- Ouahigouya 39.6
- Tenkodogo 40.8
- Koudougou 50.1
- Fada N'Gourma 39.1
- Téra, Niger 44.2
- Dapaong, Togo 41.6
- Niamey, Niger 48.1
See Kaya on the interactive map → · Safest cities in Africa → · Full travel briefings →