Serrekunda scores 72 out of 100 (high safety) on World Safety Map, ranked 3230 of 6168 cities worldwide. The score combines the homicide rate, nearby conflict deaths, income equality and human development from published data (UNODC, UCDP, World Bank, UNDP).

Is Serrekunda safe?

Gambia · Africa · data updated 2026-09-04

71.5High · rank 3230 / 6,168
safer than 48% of ranked cities

Serrekunda is a city in Gambia, home to about 1.2M people, and one of 6,168 cities worldwide ranked on this site from published safety data. It currently ranks 3,230 of 6,168, with a safety score of 71.5 out of 100, placing it clearly above the global midpoint.

US 2/4 Exercise increased caution

Same-sex activity criminalizedLaw on the books in Gambia 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 Gambia are country-level, and no published dataset covers neighborhood-level crime - so this briefing does not invent it.

How safe is Serrekunda really?

Neither Serrekunda nor Gambia 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. Gambia's income inequality is middling (Gini 38.8) - in this dataset inequality predicts city violence better than any other structural factor, so this neither raises nor lowers the picture much.

Serrekunda also carries some conflict exposure: UCDP recorded 1 deaths from organized violence within 100 km across 1 events in 2022-2024 - a factor crime statistics alone would miss.

What the travel advisories say

The US State Department currently rates Gambia at level 2 of 4 - "Exercise increased caution" (updated 2026-01-15). The UK Foreign Office publishes travel advice for Gambia 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 Gambia

Terrorism in The Gambia · Political situation · Protecting your belongings · Local travel · Ramadan · Personal ID · Public offences · Detainment · Illegal drugs and prison sentences · LGBT+ travellers · Money · Road travel · Driving conditions · River travel · +3 more

Topic headings from the official UK FCDO travel advice for Gambia — country-level, not specific to Serrekunda. Read what each one says →

The numbers

Homicide rate: no data
Conflict deaths: 1within 100 km, 2022-2024 (UCDP)
Income inequality: Gini 38.8country, 2020
Human development: HDI 0.524country, 2023
Income: $3,660/yrGNI per capita PPP · context only, not scored
Population: 1.2Murban centre · 6,392/km²

Country context for travelers

Road deaths: 29.6 /100kWHO, 2019 · often the biggest real travel risk
Political stability: 66/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · higher = more stable
Rule of law: 50/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · police and courts reliability
Corruption perceptions: 37/100Transparency International, 2025 · higher = cleaner
Natural-hazard risk: 4.2/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
Women, Peace & Security: 0.53Georgetown WPS Index, 2025 · 0-1, higher = better
Air quality: 38.3 µg/m³PM2.5 annual mean, 2023 · WHO guideline is 5
Safely managed drinking water: 48%of the population, 2024 · WHO/UNICEF JMP
Healthcare capacity: 0.1 doctors /1k1.1 hospital beds per 1,000
Malaria: 75 /1k at riskWHO, 2024 · listed for endemic countries only

Natural hazards in Gambia

Flood: 4.5/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
Drought: 3.0/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
Tsunami: 1.1/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier

Hazard types scoring under 1 out of 10 are not listed. These describe Gambia as a whole, not Serrekunda specifically.

Same-sex sexual activity is criminalized in Gambia (as of 2025). This describes the law on the books, not necessarily enforcement practice.

All country-level figures shared by every city in Gambia; none of them affect the safety score.

How the score works

Low homicide40%no data

Peace25%92

Equality25%58

Development10%52

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 Serrekunda that gives 71.5/100. Full methodology, anchors and sources →

Serrekunda compared with M'bour

The nearest ranked city of comparable size. Green favours Serrekunda, red favours M'bour.
Measure	Serrekunda	M'bour	Difference
Safety score	71.5	77.2	−5.6 — better for M'bour
Homicide ratecity-measured where published, otherwise the national rate	no data	no data	—
Conflict deaths within 100 km	1	0	+1 — better for M'bour
Income inequality (Gini)	38.8	36.2	+2.6 — better for M'bour
Human development (HDI)	0.524	0.530	−0.006 — better for M'bour
Road deaths	29.6 /100k	23.5 /100k	+6.1 /100k — better for M'bour
Rule of law	50/100	53/100	−3/100 — better for M'bour
Corruption perceptions	37/100	46/100	−9/100 — better for M'bour
Air quality (PM2.5)	38.3 µg/m³	41.6 µg/m³	−3.3 µg/m³ — better for Serrekunda
Natural-hazard risk	4.2/10	4.6/10	−0.4/10 — better for Serrekunda

Differences are plain arithmetic between the two stored figures — nothing is modelled. Country-level rows describe the two countries, not the cities themselves. Full report for M'bour →

Nearby cities

See Serrekunda on the interactive map → · Safest cities in Africa → · Full travel briefings →