Sumy scores 50 out of 100 (moderate safety) on World Safety Map, ranked 5190 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 Sumy safe?

Ukraine · Europe · data updated 2026-09-04

49.9Moderate · rank 5190 / 6,168
safer than 16% of ranked cities

Sumy is a city in Ukraine, home to about 189k people, and one of 6,168 cities worldwide ranked on this site from published safety data. It currently ranks 5,190 of 6,168, with a safety score of 49.9 out of 100, which lands it in the middle band of the ranking.

US 4/4 Do not travel UK FCDO advises against all travel to parts of this country

Emergency Ambulance 103 · Fire 101 · Police 102

Armed conflict nearbyUCDP recorded 7,283 deaths from organized violence within 100 km in 2022-2024 (768 events). Crime figures do not capture war risk.
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

Zelenyi Shlyakh, Sudzha raion165 deaths · 16 events
Lyubimovka, Korenevo raion123 deaths · 15 events
Plekhovo, Sudzha raion97 deaths · 10 events

UCDP-recorded organized-violence deaths within 100 km of Sumy, 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 Sumy.

How safe is Sumy really?

No published homicide figure exists for Sumy 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.

Crime statistics are not the main story here: the Uppsala Conflict Data Program recorded 7,283 deaths from organized violence - war, armed conflict, militia or cartel fighting - within 100 km of Sumy across 768 events in 2022-2024. That is active-conflict territory, and ordinary crime figures say nothing about it. The deadliest recorded locations in that radius were Zelenyi Shlyakh, Sudzha raion (165 deaths), Lyubimovka, Korenevo raion (123 deaths), Plekhovo, Sudzha raion (97 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 Sumy. Read what each one says →

The numbers

Homicide rate: 3.8 /100knational rate, 2021
Conflict deaths: 7,283within 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: 189kurban centre · 3,708/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 Sumy 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

Low homicide40%48

Peace25%3

Equality25%88

Development10%78

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 Sumy that gives 49.9/100. Full methodology, anchors and sources →

Sumy compared with Kharkiv

The nearest ranked city of comparable size. Green favours Sumy, red favours Kharkiv.
Measure	Sumy	Kharkiv	Difference
Safety score	49.9	51.1	−1.2 — better for Kharkiv
Homicide ratecity-measured where published, otherwise the national rate	3.8 /100k	3.8 /100k	±0.0 /100k
Conflict deaths within 100 km	7,283	4,691	+2,592 — better for Kharkiv

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 Kharkiv →

Nearby cities

See Sumy on the interactive map → · Safest cities in Europe → · Full travel briefings →