Is Saint-Louis safe?
Senegal · Africa · data updated 2026-09-04
Saint-Louis is a city in Senegal, home to about 270k people, and one of 6,168 cities worldwide ranked on this site from published safety data. It currently ranks 2,111 of 6,168, with a safety score of 77.2 out of 100 - comfortably in the safer part of the ranking.
Emergency Ambulance 15 · Fire 18 · Police 17
- Same-sex activity criminalizedLaw on the books in Senegal as of 2025 (OWID legal-status series) - enforcement varies, but LGBTQ+ travelers face legal risk.
No official source names specific areas to avoid here: travel advisories for Senegal are country-level, and no published dataset covers neighborhood-level crime - so this briefing does not invent it.
How safe is Saint-Louis really?
Neither Saint-Louis nor Senegal 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. Senegal's income inequality is middling (Gini 36.2) - 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 Senegal at level 1 of 4 - "Exercise normal precautions" (updated 2025-11-30). The UK Foreign Office publishes travel advice for Senegal 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 Senegal
Terrorism in Senegal · Terrorist kidnap · Political situation · Protecting yourself and your belongings · Bogus taxis at the airport · Fake currency · Ramadan · Illegal drugs and prison sentences · Money · LGBT+ travellers · Road travel · Road conditions
Topic headings from the official UK FCDO travel advice for Senegal — country-level, not specific to Saint-Louis. Read what each one says →
The numbers
- Homicide rate
- no data
- Conflict deaths
- 0within 100 km, 2022-2024 (UCDP)
- Income inequality
- Gini 36.2country, 2021
- Human development
- HDI 0.530country, 2023
- Income
- $5,100/yrGNI per capita PPP · context only, not scored
- Population
- 270kurban centre · 5,634/km²
Country context for travelers
- Road deaths
- 23.5 /100kWHO, 2019 · often the biggest real travel risk
- Political stability
- 62/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · higher = more stable
- Rule of law
- 53/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · police and courts reliability
- Corruption perceptions
- 46/100Transparency International, 2025 · higher = cleaner
- Natural-hazard risk
- 4.6/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Women, Peace & Security
- 0.66Georgetown WPS Index, 2025 · 0-1, higher = better
- Air quality
- 41.6 µg/m³PM2.5 annual mean, 2023 · WHO guideline is 5
- Safely managed drinking water
- 27%of the population, 2024 · WHO/UNICEF JMP
- Healthcare capacity
- 0.1 doctors /1k0.7 hospital beds per 1,000
- Malaria
- 37 /1k at riskWHO, 2024 · listed for endemic countries only
Natural hazards in Senegal
- Flood
- 6.3/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Drought
- 6.1/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Tsunami
- 3.9/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
Hazard types scoring under 1 out of 10 are not listed. These describe Senegal as a whole, not Saint-Louis specifically.
Same-sex sexual activity is criminalized in Senegal (as of 2025). This describes the law on the books, not necessarily enforcement practice.
All country-level figures shared by every city in Senegal; 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 Saint-Louis that gives 77.2/100. Full methodology, anchors and sources →
Saint-Louis compared with Touba
| Measure | Saint-Louis | Touba | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Safety score | 77.2 | 77.2 | ±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 Senegal, so they share every country-level figure and only the city-level ones are listed. Full report for Touba →
Nearby cities
See Saint-Louis on the interactive map → · Safest cities in Africa → · Full travel briefings →