Is Odense safe?
Denmark · Europe · data updated 2026-09-04
Odense is a city in Denmark, home to about 130k people, and one of 6,168 cities worldwide ranked on this site from published safety data. It currently ranks 415 of 6,168, with a safety score of 84.1 out of 100 - among the safest cities in this dataset.
Emergency 112 (ambulance, fire, police)
No official source names specific areas to avoid here: travel advisories for Denmark are country-level, and no published dataset covers neighborhood-level crime - so this briefing does not invent it.
How safe is Odense really?
No published homicide figure exists for Odense itself, so the national rate stands in: Denmark recorded 0.8 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. Denmark is also one of the more equal societies in the dataset (Gini 29.9), 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 Denmark at level 2 of 4 - "Exercise increased caution" (updated 2024-09-16). The UK Foreign Office publishes travel advice for Denmark 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 Denmark
Terrorism in Denmark · Protecting yourself and your belongings · Dress code · Illegal drugs · LGBT+ travellers · Road travel · Bicycles and scooters · Arctic travel · Greenland · The Faroe Islands
Topic headings from the official UK FCDO travel advice for Denmark — country-level, not specific to Odense. Read what each one says →
The numbers
- Homicide rate
- 0.8 /100knational rate, 2024
- Conflict deaths
- 0within 100 km, 2022-2024 (UCDP)
- Income inequality
- Gini 29.9country, 2023
- Human development
- HDI 0.962country, 2023
- Income
- $85,460/yrGNI per capita PPP · context only, not scored
- Population
- 130kurban centre · 2,554/km²
Country context for travelers
- Road deaths
- 3.7 /100kWHO, 2019 · often the biggest real travel risk
- Political stability
- 79/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · higher = more stable
- Rule of law
- 91/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · police and courts reliability
- Corruption perceptions
- 89/100Transparency International, 2025 · higher = cleaner
- Natural-hazard risk
- 1.5/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Women, Peace & Security
- 0.94Georgetown WPS Index, 2025 · 0-1, higher = better
- Air quality
- 7.5 µg/m³PM2.5 annual mean, 2023 · WHO guideline is 5
- Safely managed drinking water
- 100%of the population, 2024 · WHO/UNICEF JMP
- Healthcare capacity
- 4.5 doctors /1k2.4 hospital beds per 1,000
Natural hazards in Denmark
- Drought
- 2.4/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
Hazard types scoring under 1 out of 10 are not listed. These describe Denmark as a whole, not Odense specifically.
Same-sex sexual activity is legal in Denmark (as of 2025).
All country-level figures shared by every city in Denmark; 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 Odense that gives 84.1/100. Full methodology, anchors and sources →
Odense compared with Copenhagen
| Measure | Odense | Copenhagen | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Safety score | 84.1 | 80.5 | +3.6 — better for Odense |
| Homicide ratecity-measured where published, otherwise the national rate | 0.8 /100k | 1.4 /100k | −0.6 /100k — better for Odense |
| Conflict deaths within 100 km | 0 | 0 | ±0 |
Differences are plain arithmetic between the two stored figures — nothing is modelled. Both cities are in Denmark, so they share every country-level figure and only the city-level ones are listed. Full report for Copenhagen →
Nearby cities
- Aarhus 91.3
- Kiel, Germany 81.3
- Copenhagen 80.5
- Helsingborg, Sweden 84.1
- Malmo, Sweden 84.1
- Lübeck, Germany 81.3
- Rostock, Germany 81.3
- Aalborg 84.1
See Odense on the interactive map → · Safest cities in Europe → · Full travel briefings →