Is Surak safe?
Iran · Asia · data updated 2026-09-04
Surak is a city in Iran, home to about 221k people, and one of 6,168 cities worldwide ranked on this site from published safety data. It currently ranks 3,866 of 6,168, with a safety score of 65.5 out of 100 - comfortably in the safer part of the ranking.
Emergency Ambulance 115 · Fire 125 · Police 110
- US State Department: Do not travelOfficial travel advisory level 4 of 4 for Iran, updated 2025-12-04.
- UK FCDO advises against all travel to this countryOfficial UK government travel advice, updated 2026-08-13.
- Same-sex activity criminalized - death penalty in lawLaw on the books in Iran as of 2025 (OWID legal-status series) - enforcement varies, but LGBTQ+ travelers face legal risk.
Deadliest recorded locations nearby
- Babol, Mazandaran province5 deaths · 1 event
UCDP-recorded organized-violence deaths within 100 km of Surak, 2022-2024, at the locations the source itself names. Conflict deaths, not street crime.
How safe is Surak really?
No published homicide figure exists for Surak itself, so the national rate stands in: Iran recorded 2.4 homicides per 100,000 people in 2014 - close to the global city median. The city itself may be safer or more dangerous than its country's average. Iran's income inequality is middling (Gini 35.9) - in this dataset inequality predicts city violence better than any other structural factor, so this neither raises nor lowers the picture much.
Surak also carries some conflict exposure: UCDP recorded 9 deaths from organized violence within 100 km across 6 events in 2022-2024 - a factor crime statistics alone would miss. The deadliest recorded locations in that radius were Babol, Mazandaran province (5 deaths).
What the travel advisories say
The US State Department currently rates Iran at level 4 of 4 - "Do not travel" (updated 2025-12-04). The UK Foreign Office advises against all travel to this country. 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 Iran
Terrorism in Iran · Leaving Iran in an emergency · Consular, welfare and family access while in detention · Protests · Activities that put you at risk · Border areas · Scams · Methanol poisoning · Money · Surrogacy and adoption · Ramadan · Dress codes · Relationships between men and women · LGBT+ relationships · +15 more
Topic headings from the official UK FCDO travel advice for Iran — country-level, not specific to Surak. Read what each one says →
The numbers
- Homicide rate
- 2.4 /100knational rate, 2014
- Conflict deaths
- 9within 100 km, 2022-2024 (UCDP)
- Income inequality
- Gini 35.9country, 2023
- Human development
- HDI 0.799country, 2023
- Income
- $19,660/yrGNI per capita PPP · context only, not scored
- Population
- 221kurban centre · 8,832/km²
Country context for travelers
- Road deaths
- 21.5 /100kWHO, 2019 · often the biggest real travel risk
- Political stability
- 39/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · higher = more stable
- Rule of law
- 36/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · police and courts reliability
- Corruption perceptions
- 23/100Transparency International, 2025 · higher = cleaner
- Natural-hazard risk
- 5.8/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Women, Peace & Security
- 0.61Georgetown WPS Index, 2025 · 0-1, higher = better
- Air quality
- 40.2 µg/m³PM2.5 annual mean, 2023 · WHO guideline is 5
- Safely managed drinking water
- 94%of the population, 2024 · WHO/UNICEF JMP
- Healthcare capacity
- 1.8 doctors /1k1.9 hospital beds per 1,000
- Malaria
- 2 /1k at riskWHO, 2024 · listed for endemic countries only
Natural hazards in Iran
- Earthquake
- 9.3/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Flood
- 7.3/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Drought
- 6.4/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Tsunami
- 5.5/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Cyclone
- 1.6/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
Hazard types scoring under 1 out of 10 are not listed. These describe Iran as a whole, not Surak specifically.
Same-sex sexual activity is criminalized in Iran, with the death penalty applying in law (as of 2025). This describes the law on the books, not necessarily enforcement practice.
All country-level figures shared by every city in Iran; 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 Surak that gives 65.5/100. Full methodology, anchors and sources →
Surak compared with Sari
| Measure | Surak | Sari | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Safety score | 65.5 | 65.5 | ±0.0 |
| Homicide ratecity-measured where published, otherwise the national rate | 2.4 /100k | 2.4 /100k | ±0.0 /100k |
| Conflict deaths within 100 km | 9 | 9 | ±0 |
Differences are plain arithmetic between the two stored figures — nothing is modelled. Both cities are in Iran, so they share every country-level figure and only the city-level ones are listed. Full report for Sari →
Nearby cities
- Sari 65.5
- Qaem Shahr 65.5
- Babol 65.5
- Amol 65.0
- Mahdishahr 68.0
- Gorgan 69.9
- Shahrud 69.9
- Pardis 62.2
See Surak on the interactive map → · Safest cities in Asia → · Full travel briefings →