Is Koidu Town safe?
Sierra Leone · Africa · data updated 2026-09-04
Koidu Town is a city in Sierra Leone, home to about 141k people, and one of 6,168 cities worldwide ranked on this site from published safety data. It currently ranks 3,520 of 6,168, with a safety score of 69.1 out of 100, placing it clearly above the global midpoint.
Emergency 117 (ambulance, fire, police)
- Same-sex activity criminalizedLaw on the books in Sierra Leone as of 2025 (OWID legal-status series) - enforcement varies, but LGBTQ+ travelers face legal risk.
No official source names specific areas to avoid here: travel advisories for Sierra Leone are country-level, and no published dataset covers neighborhood-level crime - so this briefing does not invent it.
How safe is Koidu Town really?
No published homicide figure exists for Koidu Town itself, so the national rate stands in: Sierra Leone recorded 2.2 homicides per 100,000 people in 2020 - close to the global city median. The city itself may be safer or more dangerous than its country's average. Sierra Leone's income inequality is middling (Gini 35.7) - in this dataset inequality predicts city violence better than any other structural factor, so this neither raises nor lowers the picture much.
What the travel advisories say
The US State Department currently rates Sierra Leone at level 2 of 4 - "Exercise increased caution" (updated 2025-09-14). The UK Foreign Office publishes travel advice for Sierra Leone without any avoid-travel warning in force. 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 Sierra Leone
Terrorism in Sierra Leone · Political situation · Reporting crime · Personal ID · Illegal drugs and prison sentences · Diamond smuggling · Land ownership disputes · Taking photographs and filmmaking · LGBT+ travellers · Adoption in Sierra Leone · Water sports and swimming safety · Road travel · Road conditions and safety · Sierra Leone’s borders with Guinea and Liberia · +5 more
Topic headings from the official UK FCDO travel advice for Sierra Leone — country-level, not specific to Koidu Town. Read what each one says →
The numbers
- Homicide rate
- 2.2 /100knational rate, 2020
- Conflict deaths
- 0within 100 km, 2022-2024 (UCDP)
- Income inequality
- Gini 35.7country, 2018
- Human development
- HDI 0.467country, 2023
- Income
- $3,690/yrGNI per capita PPP · context only, not scored
- Population
- 141kurban centre · 5,421/km²
Country context for travelers
- Road deaths
- 33.0 /100kWHO, 2019 · often the biggest real travel risk
- Political stability
- 58/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · higher = more stable
- Rule of law
- 43/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · police and courts reliability
- Corruption perceptions
- 34/100Transparency International, 2025 · higher = cleaner
- Natural-hazard risk
- 4.8/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Women, Peace & Security
- 0.60Georgetown WPS Index, 2025 · 0-1, higher = better
- Air quality
- 22.5 µg/m³PM2.5 annual mean, 2023 · WHO guideline is 5
- Safely managed drinking water
- 11%of the population, 2024 · WHO/UNICEF JMP
- Healthcare capacity
- 0.1 doctors /1k0.4 hospital beds per 1,000
- Malaria
- 283 /1k at riskWHO, 2024 · listed for endemic countries only
Natural hazards in Sierra Leone
- Flood
- 5.8/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Tsunami
- 2.9/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
Hazard types scoring under 1 out of 10 are not listed. These describe Sierra Leone as a whole, not Koidu Town specifically.
Same-sex sexual activity is criminalized in Sierra Leone (as of 2025). This describes the law on the books, not necessarily enforcement practice.
All country-level figures shared by every city in Sierra Leone; 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 Koidu Town that gives 69.1/100. Full methodology, anchors and sources →
Koidu Town compared with Freetown
| Measure | Koidu Town | Freetown | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Safety score | 69.1 | 69.1 | ±0.0 |
| Homicide ratecity-measured where published, otherwise the national rate | 2.2 /100k | 2.2 /100k | ±0.0 /100k |
| Conflict deaths within 100 km | 0 | 0 | ±0 |
Differences are plain arithmetic between the two stored figures — nothing is modelled. Both cities are in Sierra Leone, so they share every country-level figure and only the city-level ones are listed. Full report for Freetown →
Nearby cities
- Kenema 69.1
- Kissidougou, Guinea 82.8
- Bo 69.1
- Makeni 69.1
- Faranah, Guinea 82.8
- Freetown 69.1
- Nzérékoré, Guinea 82.8
- Kindia, Guinea 82.8
See Koidu Town on the interactive map → · Safest cities in Africa → · Full travel briefings →