Is Mbalmayo safe?
Cameroon · Africa · data updated 2026-09-04
Mbalmayo is a city in Cameroon, home to about 101k people, and one of 6,168 cities worldwide ranked on this site from published safety data. It currently ranks 4,783 of 6,168, with a safety score of 55.9 out of 100, which lands it in the middle band of the ranking.
Emergency Ambulance 112 · Fire 119 · Police 117
- 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.
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 Mbalmayo.
How safe is Mbalmayo really?
No published homicide figure exists for Mbalmayo 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.
Mbalmayo also carries some conflict exposure: UCDP recorded 2 deaths from organized violence within 100 km across 2 events in 2022-2024 - a factor crime statistics alone would miss.
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 Mbalmayo. Read what each one says →
The numbers
- Homicide rate
- 6.8 /100knational rate, 2022 · ~2× the global city median
- Conflict deaths
- 2within 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
- 101kurban centre · 5,635/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 Mbalmayo 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
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 Mbalmayo that gives 55.9/100. Full methodology, anchors and sources →
Mbalmayo compared with Yaoundé
| Measure | Mbalmayo | Yaoundé | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Safety score | 55.9 | 55.9 | ±0.0 |
| Homicide ratecity-measured where published, otherwise the national rate | 6.8 /100k | 6.8 /100k | ±0.0 /100k |
| Conflict deaths within 100 km | 2 | 2 | ±0 |
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 Yaoundé →
Nearby cities
- Yaoundé 55.9
- Ebolowa 58.9
- Sangmélima 58.9
- Edéa 51.5
- Kribi 58.9
- Douala 45.1
- Nkongsamba 44.6
- Tiko 45.0
See Mbalmayo on the interactive map → · Safest cities in Africa → · Full travel briefings →