Is Malmo safe?
Sweden · Europe · data updated 2026-09-04
Malmo is a city in Sweden, home to about 318k people, and one of 6,168 cities worldwide ranked on this site from published safety data. It currently ranks 407 of 6,168, with a safety score of 84.1 out of 100, which puts it in the top band of the ranking.
Emergency 112 (ambulance, fire, police)
No official source names specific areas to avoid here: travel advisories for Sweden are country-level, and no published dataset covers neighborhood-level crime - so this briefing does not invent it.
How safe is Malmo really?
No published homicide figure exists for Malmo itself, so the national rate stands in: Sweden recorded 0.9 homicides per 100,000 people in 2024 - well below the global city median. The city itself may be safer or more dangerous than its country's average. Sweden is also one of the more equal societies in the dataset (Gini 29.3), and low inequality is the strongest structural predictor of low city violence in this data.
What the travel advisories say
The US State Department currently rates Sweden at level 2 of 4 - "Exercise increased caution" (updated 2026-05-17). The UK Foreign Office publishes travel advice for Sweden 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 Sweden
Terrorism in Sweden · Political demonstrations · Protecting your belongings · Illegal drugs · LGBT+ travellers · Road travel · Arctic travel
Topic headings from the official UK FCDO travel advice for Sweden — country-level, not specific to Malmo. Read what each one says →
The numbers
- Homicide rate
- 0.9 /100knational rate, 2024
- Conflict deaths
- 0within 100 km, 2022-2024 (UCDP)
- Income inequality
- Gini 29.3country, 2023
- Human development
- HDI 0.959country, 2023
- Income
- $76,090/yrGNI per capita PPP · context only, not scored
- Population
- 318kurban centre · 4,359/km²
Country context for travelers
- Road deaths
- 3.1 /100kWHO, 2019 · often the biggest real travel risk
- Political stability
- 76/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · higher = more stable
- Rule of law
- 87/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · police and courts reliability
- Corruption perceptions
- 80/100Transparency International, 2025 · higher = cleaner
- Natural-hazard risk
- 2.7/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Women, Peace & Security
- 0.92Georgetown WPS Index, 2025 · 0-1, higher = better
- Air quality
- 5.3 µg/m³PM2.5 annual mean, 2023 · WHO guideline is 5
- Safely managed drinking water
- 100%of the population, 2024 · WHO/UNICEF JMP
- Healthcare capacity
- 4.4 doctors /1k1.9 hospital beds per 1,000
Natural hazards in Sweden
- Flood
- 6.3/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
Hazard types scoring under 1 out of 10 are not listed. These describe Sweden as a whole, not Malmo specifically.
Same-sex sexual activity is legal in Sweden (as of 2025).
All country-level figures shared by every city in Sweden; 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 Malmo that gives 84.1/100. Full methodology, anchors and sources →
Malmo compared with Copenhagen
| Measure | Malmo | Copenhagen | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Safety score | 84.1 | 80.5 | +3.6 — better for Malmo |
| Homicide ratecity-measured where published, otherwise the national rate | 0.9 /100k | 1.4 /100k | −0.5 /100k — better for Malmo |
| Conflict deaths within 100 km | 0 | 0 | ±0 |
| Income inequality (Gini) | 29.3 | 29.9 | −0.6 — better for Malmo |
| Human development (HDI) | 0.959 | 0.962 | −0.003 — better for Copenhagen |
| Road deaths | 3.1 /100k | 3.7 /100k | −0.6 /100k — better for Malmo |
| Rule of law | 87/100 | 91/100 | −4/100 — better for Copenhagen |
| Corruption perceptions | 80/100 | 89/100 | −9/100 — better for Copenhagen |
| Air quality (PM2.5) | 5.3 µg/m³ | 7.5 µg/m³ | −2.2 µg/m³ — better for Malmo |
| Natural-hazard risk | 2.7/10 | 1.5/10 | +1.2/10 — better for Copenhagen |
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 Copenhagen →
Nearby cities
- Copenhagen, Denmark 80.5
- Helsingborg 84.1
- Odense, Denmark 84.1
- Rostock, Germany 81.3
- Aarhus, Denmark 91.3
- Kiel, Germany 81.3
- Lübeck, Germany 81.3
- Gothenburg 84.1
See Malmo on the interactive map → · Safest cities in Europe → · Full travel briefings →