World Safety Map

Is Kumbo safe?

Cameroon · Africa · data updated 2026-09-04

41.1Moderate · rank 5764 / 6,168
safer than 7% of ranked cities

Kumbo is a city in Cameroon, home to about 130k people, and one of 6,168 cities worldwide ranked on this site from published safety data. It currently ranks 5,764 of 6,168, with a safety score of 41.1 out of 100, which lands it in the middle band of the ranking.

Emergency Ambulance 112 · Fire 119 · Police 117

  • Armed conflict nearbyUCDP recorded 685 deaths from organized violence within 100 km in 2022-2024 (268 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
  • Batibo; in the villages of Enyo, Ewai, Bossom /// in Enyoh and Ewah villages, located in Batibo district15 deaths · 1 event

UCDP-recorded organized-violence deaths within 100 km of Kumbo, 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 Kumbo.

How safe is Kumbo really?

No published homicide figure exists for Kumbo 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 685 deaths from organized violence - war, armed conflict, militia or cartel fighting - within 100 km of Kumbo across 268 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), Batibo; in the villages of Enyo, Ewai, Bossom /// in Enyoh and Ewah villages, located in Batibo district (15 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 Kumbo. Read what each one says →

The numbers

Homicide rate
6.8 /100knational rate, 2022 · ~2× the global city median
Conflict deaths
685within 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
130kurban centre · 5,197/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 Kumbo 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%29
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 Kumbo that gives 41.1/100. Full methodology, anchors and sources →

Kumbo compared with Foumban

The nearest ranked city of comparable size. Green favours Kumbo, red favours Foumban.
MeasureKumboFoumbanDifference
Safety score41.141.5−0.3 — better for Foumban
Homicide ratecity-measured where published, otherwise the national rate6.8 /100k6.8 /100k±0.0 /100k
Conflict deaths within 100 km685607+78 — better for Foumban

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 Foumban

Nearby cities

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