Is Port-Gentil safe?
Gabon · Africa · data updated 2026-09-04
Port-Gentil is a city in Gabon, home to about 101k people, and one of 6,168 cities worldwide ranked on this site from published safety data. It currently ranks 1,997 of 6,168, with a safety score of 78.9 out of 100 - comfortably in the safer part of the ranking.
Emergency Fire 177 · Police 177
No official source names specific areas to avoid here: travel advisories for Gabon are country-level, and no published dataset covers neighborhood-level crime - so this briefing does not invent it.
How safe is Port-Gentil really?
Neither Port-Gentil nor Gabon has a published homicide rate in the sources this site uses (UNODC and the Igarapé Homicide Monitor), so the strongest single indicator of city safety is simply missing here. Gabon's income inequality is middling (Gini 38.0) - 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 Gabon at level 2 of 4 - "Exercise increased caution" (updated 2026-03-29). The UK Foreign Office publishes travel advice for Gabon 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 Gabon
Terrorism in Gabon · Detention of tourists · Protests · Taxis · Carjacking · Money and credit card fraud · Personal ID · Illegal drugs and prison sentences · Using cameras in secure areas · LGBT+ travellers · Road travel · Driving conditions in Gabon · Air travel · Sea travel
Topic headings from the official UK FCDO travel advice for Gabon — country-level, not specific to Port-Gentil. Read what each one says →
The numbers
- Homicide rate
- no data
- Conflict deaths
- 0within 100 km, 2022-2024 (UCDP)
- Income inequality
- Gini 38.0country, 2017
- Human development
- HDI 0.733country, 2023
- Income
- $21,660/yrGNI per capita PPP · context only, not scored
- Population
- 101kurban centre · 2,900/km²
Country context for travelers
- Road deaths
- 23.9 /100kWHO, 2019 · often the biggest real travel risk
- Political stability
- 61/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · higher = more stable
- Rule of law
- 37/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · police and courts reliability
- Corruption perceptions
- 29/100Transparency International, 2025 · higher = cleaner
- Natural-hazard risk
- 3.5/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Women, Peace & Security
- 0.68Georgetown WPS Index, 2025 · 0-1, higher = better
- Air quality
- 31.3 µg/m³PM2.5 annual mean, 2023 · WHO guideline is 5
- Safely managed drinking water
- no dataof the population · WHO/UNICEF JMP
- Healthcare capacity
- 0.5 doctors /1k2.0 hospital beds per 1,000
- Malaria
- 187 /1k at riskWHO, 2024 · listed for endemic countries only
Natural hazards in Gabon
- Flood
- 5.5/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
Hazard types scoring under 1 out of 10 are not listed. These describe Gabon as a whole, not Port-Gentil specifically.
Same-sex sexual activity is legal in Gabon (as of 2025).
All country-level figures shared by every city in Gabon; 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 Port-Gentil that gives 78.9/100. Full methodology, anchors and sources →
Port-Gentil compared with Libreville
| Measure | Port-Gentil | Libreville | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Safety score | 78.9 | 78.9 | ±0.0 |
| Homicide ratecity-measured where published, otherwise the national rate | no data | no data | — |
| Conflict deaths within 100 km | 0 | 0 | ±0 |
Differences are plain arithmetic between the two stored figures — nothing is modelled. Both cities are in Gabon, so they share every country-level figure and only the city-level ones are listed. Full report for Libreville →
Nearby cities
- Libreville 78.9
- São Tomé, Sao Tome and Principe 65.4
- Bata, Equatorial Guinea 77.4
- Kribi, Cameroon 58.9
- Ebolowa, Cameroon 58.9
- Malabo, Equatorial Guinea 58.2
- Moanda 78.9
- Edéa, Cameroon 51.5
See Port-Gentil on the interactive map → · Safest cities in Africa → · Full travel briefings →