Is Simferopol safe?
Ukraine · Europe · data updated 2026-09-04
Simferopol is a city in Ukraine, home to about 295k people, and one of 6,168 cities worldwide ranked on this site from published safety data. It currently ranks 4,482 of 6,168, with a safety score of 59.4 out of 100, which lands it in the middle band of the ranking.
Emergency Ambulance 103 · Fire 101 · Police 102
- US State Department: Do not travelOfficial travel advisory level 4 of 4 for Ukraine, updated 2026-08-27.
- UK FCDO advises against all travel to parts of this country8 named areas - see "areas to avoid" below.
Deadliest recorded locations nearby
- Black Sea Fleet HQ, Sevastopol, Crimea.34 deaths · 1 event
- airfield in Novofedorivka30 deaths · 1 event
- airfield in Saky30 deaths · 1 event
UCDP-recorded organized-violence deaths within 100 km of Simferopol, 2022-2024, at the locations the source itself names. Conflict deaths, not street crime.
Areas the UK FCDO advises against visiting country
- Crimea
- Border with Belarus
- All other regions of Ukraine
- Volyn
- Rivne
- Zhytomyr
- All parts:
- Parts further than 50km from the border with Belarus:
Named in the official UK travel advice for Ukraine (in full or in part - the advisory lists exact boundaries and exceptions). These are country-level warnings and may be far from Simferopol.
How safe is Simferopol really?
No published homicide figure exists for Simferopol itself, so the national rate stands in: Ukraine recorded 3.8 homicides per 100,000 people in 2021 - close to the global city median. The city itself may be safer or more dangerous than its country's average. Ukraine is also one of the more equal societies in the dataset (Gini 25.6), and low inequality is the strongest structural predictor of low city violence in this data.
Simferopol also carries some conflict exposure: UCDP recorded 225 deaths from organized violence within 100 km across 29 events in 2022-2024 - a factor crime statistics alone would miss. The deadliest recorded locations in that radius were Black Sea Fleet HQ, Sevastopol, Crimea. (34 deaths), airfield in Novofedorivka (30 deaths), airfield in Saky (30 deaths).
What the travel advisories say
The US State Department currently rates Ukraine at level 4 of 4 - "Do not travel" (updated 2026-08-27). The UK Foreign Office advises against all travel to parts of this country, naming 8 specific areas - listed above with the official advisory linked for exact boundaries and exceptions. 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 Ukraine
Terrorism in Ukraine · Political situation · Unexploded weapons · Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant · Protecting your belongings · Drink and food spiking · Scams · Cyber attacks · Language · Personal ID · Access to money · Alcohol and smoking · Illegal drugs and prison sentences · Using cameras in secure areas · +11 more
Topic headings from the official UK FCDO travel advice for Ukraine — country-level, not specific to Simferopol. Read what each one says →
The numbers
- Homicide rate
- 3.8 /100knational rate, 2021
- Conflict deaths
- 225within 100 km, 2022-2024 (UCDP)
- Income inequality
- Gini 25.6country, 2020
- Human development
- HDI 0.779country, 2023
- Income
- $18,750/yrGNI per capita PPP · context only, not scored
- Population
- 295kurban centre · 4,094/km²
Country context for travelers
- Road deaths
- 10.2 /100kWHO, 2019 · often the biggest real travel risk
- Political stability
- 59/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · higher = more stable
- Rule of law
- 45/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · police and courts reliability
- Corruption perceptions
- 36/100Transparency International, 2025 · higher = cleaner
- Natural-hazard risk
- 5.7/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Women, Peace & Security
- 0.65Georgetown WPS Index, 2025 · 0-1, higher = better
- Air quality
- 14.9 µg/m³PM2.5 annual mean, 2023 · WHO guideline is 5
- Safely managed drinking water
- 88%of the population, 2024 · WHO/UNICEF JMP
- Healthcare capacity
- 3.5 doctors /1k6.1 hospital beds per 1,000
Natural hazards in Ukraine
- Flood
- 6.1/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Drought
- 3.2/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Earthquake
- 1.9/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
Hazard types scoring under 1 out of 10 are not listed. These describe Ukraine as a whole, not Simferopol specifically.
Same-sex sexual activity is legal in Ukraine (as of 2025).
All country-level figures shared by every city in Ukraine; 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 Simferopol that gives 59.4/100. Full methodology, anchors and sources →
Simferopol compared with Odesa
| Measure | Simferopol | Odesa | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Safety score | 59.4 | 58.6 | +0.8 — better for Simferopol |
| Homicide ratecity-measured where published, otherwise the national rate | 3.8 /100k | 3.8 /100k | ±0.0 /100k |
| Conflict deaths within 100 km | 225 | 301 | −76 — better for Simferopol |
Differences are plain arithmetic between the two stored figures — nothing is modelled. Both cities are in Ukraine, so they share every country-level figure and only the city-level ones are listed. Full report for Odesa →
Nearby cities
- Sevastopol 59.1
- Kherson 49.9
- Mykolaiv 50.3
- Novorossiysk, Russia 63.5
- Nikopol 52.2
- Odesa 58.6
- Zaporizhzhia 50.8
- Kryvyi Rih 54.7
See Simferopol on the interactive map → · Safest cities in Europe → · Full travel briefings →