Is Lae safe?
Papua New Guinea · Oceania · data updated 2026-09-04
Lae is a city in Papua New Guinea, home to about 122k people, and one of 6,168 cities worldwide ranked on this site from published safety data. It currently ranks 4,732 of 6,168, with a safety score of 56.6 out of 100 - mid-table: neither the data for concern nor the data for reassurance dominates.
Emergency Ambulance 111 · Fire 110 · Police 112
- US State Department: Reconsider travelOfficial travel advisory level 3 of 4 for Papua New Guinea, updated 2025-04-28.
- UK FCDO advises against all but essential travel to parts of this country2 named areas - see "areas to avoid" below.
- Elevated homicide rate9.34 homicides per 100,000 per year (national rate), about 3× the global city median.
- Same-sex activity criminalizedLaw on the books in Papua New Guinea as of 2025 (OWID legal-status series) - enforcement varies, but LGBTQ+ travelers face legal risk.
Areas the UK FCDO advises against visiting country
- Hela and Southern Highlands Provinces due to the high risk of tribal fighting
- Enga Province in the Highlands, except Wabag District
Named in the official UK travel advice for Papua New Guinea (in full or in part - the advisory lists exact boundaries and exceptions). These are country-level warnings and may be far from Lae.
How safe is Lae really?
No published homicide figure exists for Lae itself, so the national rate stands in: Papua New Guinea recorded 9.3 homicides per 100,000 people in 2010 - roughly 3 times the global city median. The city itself may be safer or more dangerous than its country's average. Papua New Guinea's income inequality is middling (Gini 41.9) - 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 Papua New Guinea at level 3 of 4 - "Reconsider travel" (updated 2025-04-28). The UK Foreign Office advises against all but essential travel to parts of this country, naming 2 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 Papua New Guinea
Terrorism in Papua New Guinea · Tribal fighting · Protecting yourself and your belongings · Vehicle crime · Public buses and taxis · Rape and sexual assault · Kokoda Track · Criminal kidnapping · Methanol poisoning · Unexploded weapons · Illegal drugs and prison sentences · LGBT+ travellers · Outdoor activities and adventure tourism · Road travel · +7 more
Topic headings from the official UK FCDO travel advice for Papua New Guinea — country-level, not specific to Lae. Read what each one says →
The numbers
- Homicide rate
- 9.3 /100knational rate, 2010 · ~3× the global city median
- Conflict deaths
- 0within 100 km, 2022-2024 (UCDP)
- Income inequality
- Gini 41.9country, 2009
- Human development
- HDI 0.576country, 2023
- Income
- $4,840/yrGNI per capita PPP · context only, not scored
- Population
- 122kurban centre · 3,199/km²
Country context for travelers
- Road deaths
- 12.6 /100kWHO, 2019 · often the biggest real travel risk
- Political stability
- 55/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · higher = more stable
- Rule of law
- 47/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · police and courts reliability
- Corruption perceptions
- 26/100Transparency International, 2025 · higher = cleaner
- Natural-hazard risk
- 6.6/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Women, Peace & Security
- 0.51Georgetown WPS Index, 2025 · 0-1, higher = better
- Air quality
- 14.1 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 /1k0.6 hospital beds per 1,000
- Malaria
- 152 /1k at riskWHO, 2024 · listed for endemic countries only
Natural hazards in Papua New Guinea
- Earthquake
- 9.2/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Tsunami
- 7.1/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Flood
- 4.6/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Cyclone
- 2.8/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Drought
- 2.5/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
Hazard types scoring under 1 out of 10 are not listed. These describe Papua New Guinea as a whole, not Lae specifically.
Same-sex sexual activity is criminalized in Papua New Guinea (as of 2025). This describes the law on the books, not necessarily enforcement practice.
All country-level figures shared by every city in Papua New Guinea; 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 Lae that gives 56.6/100. Full methodology, anchors and sources →
Lae compared with Port Moresby
| Measure | Lae | Port Moresby | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Safety score | 56.6 | 52.9 | +3.8 — better for Lae |
| Homicide ratecity-measured where published, otherwise the national rate | 9.3 /100k | 9.3 /100k | ±0.0 /100k |
| Conflict deaths within 100 km | 0 | 3 | −3 — better for Lae |
Differences are plain arithmetic between the two stored figures — nothing is modelled. Both cities are in Papua New Guinea, so they share every country-level figure and only the city-level ones are listed. Full report for Port Moresby →
Nearby cities
- Port Moresby 52.9
- Mount Hagen 44.8
- Mendi 42.7
- Merauke, Indonesia 84.2
- Jayapura, Indonesia 80.5
- Abepura, Indonesia 80.5
- Sentani, Indonesia 80.5
- Elelim, Indonesia 79.4
See Lae on the interactive map → · Safest cities in Oceania → · Full travel briefings →