Is Niamey safe?
Niger · Africa · data updated 2026-09-04
Niamey is a city in Niger, home to about 1.4M people, and one of 6,168 cities worldwide ranked on this site from published safety data. It currently ranks 5,352 of 6,168, with a safety score of 48.1 out of 100, which lands it in the middle band of the ranking.
Emergency Ambulance 15 · Fire 18 · Police 17
- Armed conflict nearbyUCDP recorded 571 deaths from organized violence within 100 km in 2022-2024 (49 events). Crime figures do not capture war risk.
- US State Department: Do not travelOfficial travel advisory level 4 of 4 for Niger, updated 2025-10-30.
- UK FCDO advises against all travel to this countryOfficial UK government travel advice, updated 2026-08-29.
Deadliest recorded locations nearby
- Boni camp near #Makalondi, Torodi department79 deaths · 1 event
- Tyawa town in Gotheye Department situated in Tillaberi50 deaths · 1 event
- Tchialkam in the Tillabéri region 20km West of Torodi34 deaths · 1 event
UCDP-recorded organized-violence deaths within 100 km of Niamey, 2022-2024, at the locations the source itself names. Conflict deaths, not street crime.
How safe is Niamey really?
No published homicide figure exists for Niamey itself, so the national rate stands in: Niger recorded 4.4 homicides per 100,000 people in 2012 - close to the global city median. The city itself may be safer or more dangerous than its country's average. Niger's income inequality is middling (Gini 32.9) - 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 571 deaths from organized violence - war, armed conflict, militia or cartel fighting - within 100 km of Niamey across 49 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 Boni camp near #Makalondi, Torodi department (79 deaths), Tyawa town in Gotheye Department situated in Tillaberi (50 deaths), Tchialkam in the Tillabéri region 20km West of Torodi (34 deaths).
What the travel advisories say
The US State Department currently rates Niger at level 4 of 4 - "Do not travel" (updated 2025-10-30). The UK Foreign Office advises against all travel to this country. 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 Niger
Terrorism in Niger · Terrorist kidnap · Security situation in Niger · Political situation · Criminal kidnapping · Scams · Personal ID · Ramadan · Using cameras in secure areas · LGBT+ travellers · Road travel · Road safety · Public transport · Air travel · +1 more
Topic headings from the official UK FCDO travel advice for Niger — country-level, not specific to Niamey. Read what each one says →
The numbers
- Homicide rate
- 4.4 /100knational rate, 2012
- Conflict deaths
- 571within 100 km, 2022-2024 (UCDP)
- Income inequality
- Gini 32.9country, 2021
- Human development
- HDI 0.419country, 2023
- Income
- $2,150/yrGNI per capita PPP · context only, not scored
- Population
- 1.4Murban centre · 6,340/km²
Country context for travelers
- Road deaths
- 25.5 /100kWHO, 2019 · often the biggest real travel risk
- Political stability
- 36/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · higher = more stable
- Rule of law
- 41/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · police and courts reliability
- Corruption perceptions
- 31/100Transparency International, 2025 · higher = cleaner
- Natural-hazard risk
- 7.8/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Women, Peace & Security
- 0.49Georgetown WPS Index, 2025 · 0-1, higher = better
- Air quality
- 65.2 µg/m³PM2.5 annual mean, 2023 · WHO guideline is 5
- Safely managed drinking water
- no dataof the population · WHO/UNICEF JMP
- Healthcare capacity
- 0.0 doctors /1k0.3 hospital beds per 1,000
- Malaria
- 305 /1k at riskWHO, 2024 · listed for endemic countries only
Natural hazards in Niger
- Flood
- 6.6/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Drought
- 5.9/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
Hazard types scoring under 1 out of 10 are not listed. These describe Niger as a whole, not Niamey specifically.
Same-sex sexual activity is legal in Niger (as of 2025).
All country-level figures shared by every city in Niger; 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 Niamey that gives 48.1/100. Full methodology, anchors and sources →
Niamey compared with Dosso
| Measure | Niamey | Dosso | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Safety score | 48.1 | 55.2 | −7.1 — better for Dosso |
| Homicide ratecity-measured where published, otherwise the national rate | 4.4 /100k | 4.4 /100k | ±0.0 /100k |
| Conflict deaths within 100 km | 571 | 41 | +530 — better for Dosso |
Differences are plain arithmetic between the two stored figures — nothing is modelled. Both cities are in Niger, so they share every country-level figure and only the city-level ones are listed. Full report for Dosso →
Nearby cities
- Dosso 55.2
- Téra 44.2
- Dogondoutchi 56.8
- Malanville, Benin 58.6
- Gaya 53.3
- Fada N'Gourma, Burkina Faso 39.1
- Birnin Kebbi, Nigeria 49.7
- Argungu, Nigeria 52.0
See Niamey on the interactive map → · Safest cities in Africa → · Full travel briefings →