Is Mtwara safe?
Tanzania · Africa · data updated 2026-09-04
Mtwara is a city in Tanzania, home to about 128k people, and one of 6,168 cities worldwide ranked on this site from published safety data. It currently ranks 4,909 of 6,168, with a safety score of 54.3 out of 100, which lands it in the middle band of the ranking.
Emergency 112 (ambulance, fire, police)
- US State Department: Reconsider travelOfficial travel advisory level 3 of 4 for Tanzania, updated 2025-10-30.
- UK FCDO advises against all but essential travel to parts of this country1 named areas - see "areas to avoid" below.
- Same-sex activity criminalizedLaw on the books in Tanzania as of 2025 (OWID legal-status series) - enforcement varies, but LGBTQ+ travelers face legal risk.
Deadliest recorded locations nearby
- village of 3 de Fevereiro, in Nangade district5 deaths · 1 event
- Pundanhar in Palma district5 deaths · 1 event
- Mungano5 deaths · 1 event
UCDP-recorded organized-violence deaths within 100 km of Mtwara, 2022-2024, at the locations the source itself names. Conflict deaths, not street crime.
Areas the UK FCDO advises against visiting country
- Tanzania
Named in the official UK travel advice for Tanzania (in full or in part - the advisory lists exact boundaries and exceptions). These are country-level warnings and may be far from Mtwara.
How safe is Mtwara really?
No published homicide figure exists for Mtwara itself, so the national rate stands in: Tanzania recorded 3.3 homicides per 100,000 people in 2024 - close to the global city median. The city itself may be safer or more dangerous than its country's average. Tanzania's income inequality is middling (Gini 40.5) - in this dataset inequality predicts city violence better than any other structural factor, so this neither raises nor lowers the picture much.
Mtwara also carries some conflict exposure: UCDP recorded 42 deaths from organized violence within 100 km across 24 events in 2022-2024 - a factor crime statistics alone would miss. The deadliest recorded locations in that radius were village of 3 de Fevereiro, in Nangade district (5 deaths), Pundanhar in Palma district (5 deaths), Mungano (5 deaths).
What the travel advisories say
The US State Department currently rates Tanzania at level 3 of 4 - "Reconsider travel" (updated 2025-10-30). The UK Foreign Office advises against all but essential travel to parts of this country, naming 1 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 Tanzania
Terrorism in Tanzania · Social media · Electronic Devices · Violent crime · Sexual Assault · Express kidnap · Protecting your property · Harassment · Religion · Personal ID · Ramadan · Dress code · Environmental laws · Illegal drugs · +14 more
Topic headings from the official UK FCDO travel advice for Tanzania — country-level, not specific to Mtwara. Read what each one says →
The numbers
- Homicide rate
- 3.3 /100knational rate, 2024
- Conflict deaths
- 42within 100 km, 2022-2024 (UCDP)
- Income inequality
- Gini 40.5country, 2018
- Human development
- HDI 0.555country, 2023
- Income
- $4,370/yrGNI per capita PPP · context only, not scored
- Population
- 128kurban centre · 3,462/km²
Country context for travelers
- Road deaths
- 31.1 /100kWHO, 2019 · often the biggest real travel risk
- Political stability
- 59/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · higher = more stable
- Rule of law
- 48/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · police and courts reliability
- Corruption perceptions
- 40/100Transparency International, 2025 · higher = cleaner
- Natural-hazard risk
- 6.0/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Women, Peace & Security
- 0.62Georgetown WPS Index, 2025 · 0-1, higher = better
- Air quality
- 20.2 µg/m³PM2.5 annual mean, 2023 · WHO guideline is 5
- Safely managed drinking water
- 31%of the population, 2024 · WHO/UNICEF JMP
- Healthcare capacity
- 0.1 doctors /1k0.8 hospital beds per 1,000
- Malaria
- 137 /1k at riskWHO, 2024 · listed for endemic countries only
Natural hazards in Tanzania
- Drought
- 4.7/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Earthquake
- 4.4/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Flood
- 4.2/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Tsunami
- 3.1/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
Hazard types scoring under 1 out of 10 are not listed. These describe Tanzania as a whole, not Mtwara specifically.
Same-sex sexual activity is criminalized in Tanzania (as of 2025). This describes the law on the books, not necessarily enforcement practice.
All country-level figures shared by every city in Tanzania; 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 Mtwara that gives 54.3/100. Full methodology, anchors and sources →
Mtwara compared with Dar es Salaam
| Measure | Mtwara | Dar es Salaam | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Safety score | 54.3 | 61.1 | −6.8 — better for Dar es Salaam |
| Homicide ratecity-measured where published, otherwise the national rate | 3.3 /100k | 3.5 /100k | −0.2 /100k — better for Mtwara |
| Conflict deaths within 100 km | 42 | 2 | +40 — better for Dar es Salaam |
Differences are plain arithmetic between the two stored figures — nothing is modelled. Both cities are in Tanzania, so they share every country-level figure and only the city-level ones are listed. Full report for Dar es Salaam →
Nearby cities
- Pemba, Mozambique 42.6
- Montepuez, Mozambique 44.6
- Moroni, Comoros 83.8
- Dar es Salaam 61.1
- Fomboni, Comoros 83.8
- Ifakara 64.5
- Zanzibar City 61.5
- Morogoro 64.5
See Mtwara on the interactive map → · Safest cities in Africa → · Full travel briefings →