Is Ploiești safe?
Romania · Europe · data updated 2026-09-04
Ploiești is a city in Romania, home to about 188k people, and one of 6,168 cities worldwide ranked on this site from published safety data. It currently ranks 1,809 of 6,168, with a safety score of 80.9 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 Romania are country-level, and no published dataset covers neighborhood-level crime - so this briefing does not invent it.
How safe is Ploiești really?
No published homicide figure exists for Ploiești itself, so the national rate stands in: Romania recorded 1.1 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. Romania is also one of the more equal societies in the dataset (Gini 29.8), 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 Romania at level 1 of 4 - "Exercise normal precautions" (updated 2025-10-13). The UK Foreign Office publishes travel advice for Romania 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 Romania
Terrorism in Romania · Political situation and demonstrations · Protecting your belongings · Drink spiking · Illegal drugs · Using cameras in secure areas · LGBT+ travellers · Road travel · Driving conditions · Accidents and vehicle damage · Toll roads · Taxis · Earthquakes
Topic headings from the official UK FCDO travel advice for Romania — country-level, not specific to Ploiești. Read what each one says →
The numbers
- Homicide rate
- 1.1 /100knational rate, 2024
- Conflict deaths
- 0within 100 km, 2022-2024 (UCDP)
- Income inequality
- Gini 29.8country, 2023
- Human development
- HDI 0.845country, 2023
- Income
- $49,550/yrGNI per capita PPP · context only, not scored
- Population
- 188kurban centre · 5,378/km²
- Nearest airport
- 41 kmBucharest Henri Coandă International Airport (OTP) · also BBU, 49 km
Straight-line distance from the city centre, not drive time. Scheduled-service airports only (OurAirports).
Country context for travelers
- Road deaths
- 10.3 /100kWHO, 2019 · often the biggest real travel risk
- Political stability
- 69/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · higher = more stable
- Rule of law
- 63/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · police and courts reliability
- Corruption perceptions
- 45/100Transparency International, 2025 · higher = cleaner
- Natural-hazard risk
- 2.8/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Women, Peace & Security
- 0.80Georgetown WPS Index, 2025 · 0-1, higher = better
- Air quality
- 16.0 µg/m³PM2.5 annual mean, 2023 · WHO guideline is 5
- Safely managed drinking water
- 82%of the population, 2024 · WHO/UNICEF JMP
- Healthcare capacity
- 3.6 doctors /1k7.2 hospital beds per 1,000
Natural hazards in Romania
- Earthquake
- 6.3/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Flood
- 6.2/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Drought
- 2.8/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
Hazard types scoring under 1 out of 10 are not listed. These describe Romania as a whole, not Ploiești specifically.
Same-sex sexual activity is legal in Romania (as of 2025).
All country-level figures shared by every city in Romania; 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 Ploiești that gives 80.9/100. Full methodology, anchors and sources →
Ploiești compared with Bucharest
| Measure | Ploiești | Bucharest | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Safety score | 80.9 | 93.0 | −12.1 — better for Bucharest |
| Homicide ratecity-measured where published, otherwise the national rate | 1.1 /100k | 0.2 /100k | +0.9 /100k — better for Bucharest |
| Conflict deaths within 100 km | 0 | 0 | ±0 |
Differences are plain arithmetic between the two stored figures — nothing is modelled. Both cities are in Romania, so they share every country-level figure and only the city-level ones are listed. Full report for Bucharest →
Nearby cities
See Ploiești on the interactive map → · Safest cities in Europe → · Full travel briefings →