Is Plovdiv safe?
Bulgaria · Europe · data updated 2026-09-04
Plovdiv is a city in Bulgaria, home to about 330k people, and one of 6,168 cities worldwide ranked on this site from published safety data. It currently ranks 2,967 of 6,168, with a safety score of 74.0 out of 100 - comfortably in the safer part of the ranking.
Emergency 112 (ambulance, fire, police)
No official source names specific areas to avoid here: travel advisories for Bulgaria are country-level, and no published dataset covers neighborhood-level crime - so this briefing does not invent it.
How safe is Plovdiv really?
The most direct evidence is measured in the city itself: Plovdiv recorded 1.4 homicides per 100,000 residents in 2022 - well below the global city median. Bulgaria's income inequality is middling (Gini 39.5) - in this dataset inequality predicts city violence better than any other structural factor, so this neither raises nor lowers the picture much.
What the travel advisories say
The US State Department currently rates Bulgaria at level 1 of 4 - "Exercise normal precautions" (updated 2025-10-08). The UK Foreign Office publishes travel advice for Bulgaria 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 Bulgaria
Terrorism in Bulgaria · Protests and demonstrations · Protecting yourself and your belongings · Scams · Thefts from accommodation · Thefts from cars · Property fraud · Personal ID · Illegal drugs and sex offences · Drunken and disorderly behaviour · Football matches · Using cameras and binoculars in secure areas · Working with migrants in border regions · Race-related incidents · +13 more
Topic headings from the official UK FCDO travel advice for Bulgaria — country-level, not specific to Plovdiv. Read what each one says →
The numbers
- Homicide rate
- 1.4 /100kcity-measured, 2022
- Conflict deaths
- 0within 100 km, 2022-2024 (UCDP)
- Income inequality
- Gini 39.5country, 2023
- Human development
- HDI 0.845country, 2023
- Income
- $42,170/yrGNI per capita PPP · context only, not scored
- Population
- 330kurban centre · 7,330/km²
Country context for travelers
- Road deaths
- 9.2 /100kWHO, 2019 · often the biggest real travel risk
- Political stability
- 67/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · higher = more stable
- Rule of law
- 56/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · police and courts reliability
- Corruption perceptions
- 40/100Transparency International, 2025 · higher = cleaner
- Natural-hazard risk
- 2.7/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Women, Peace & Security
- 0.81Georgetown WPS Index, 2025 · 0-1, higher = better
- Air quality
- 19.7 µg/m³PM2.5 annual mean, 2023 · WHO guideline is 5
- Safely managed drinking water
- 96%of the population, 2024 · WHO/UNICEF JMP
- Healthcare capacity
- 4.3 doctors /1k8.2 hospital beds per 1,000
Natural hazards in Bulgaria
- Earthquake
- 6.2/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Flood
- 5.1/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Drought
- 3.2/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
Hazard types scoring under 1 out of 10 are not listed. These describe Bulgaria as a whole, not Plovdiv specifically.
Same-sex sexual activity is legal in Bulgaria (as of 2025).
All country-level figures shared by every city in Bulgaria; 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 Plovdiv that gives 74.0/100. Full methodology, anchors and sources →
Plovdiv compared with Sofia
| Measure | Plovdiv | Sofia | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Safety score | 74.0 | 77.1 | −3.1 — better for Sofia |
| Homicide ratecity-measured where published, otherwise the national rate | 1.4 /100k | 0.9 /100k | +0.5 /100k — better for Sofia |
| Conflict deaths within 100 km | 0 | 0 | ±0 |
Differences are plain arithmetic between the two stored figures — nothing is modelled. Both cities are in Bulgaria, so they share every country-level figure and only the city-level ones are listed. Full report for Sofia →
Nearby cities
- Sofia 77.1
- Edirne, Turkey 67.9
- Thessaloniki, Greece 81.5
- Burgas 75.2
- Craiova, Romania 80.9
- Çanakkale, Turkey 67.9
- Tekirdağ, Turkey 67.9
- Niš, Serbia 80.7
See Plovdiv on the interactive map → · Safest cities in Europe → · Full travel briefings →