World Safety Map

Is Takaba safe?

Kenya · Africa · data updated 2026-09-04

53.4Moderate · rank 4990 / 6,168
safer than 19% of ranked cities

Takaba is a city in Kenya, home to about 114k people, and one of 6,168 cities worldwide ranked on this site from published safety data. It currently ranks 4,990 of 6,168, with a safety score of 53.4 out of 100, which lands it in the middle band of the ranking.

Emergency 999 (ambulance, fire, police)

  • UK FCDO advises against all travel to parts of this country9 named areas - see "areas to avoid" below.
  • Same-sex activity criminalizedLaw on the books in Kenya as of 2025 (OWID legal-status series) - enforcement varies, but LGBTQ+ travelers face legal risk.

Deadliest recorded locations nearby

  • Ogorweyn area,26 deaths · 1 event

UCDP-recorded organized-violence deaths within 100 km of Takaba, 2022-2024, at the locations the source itself names. Conflict deaths, not street crime.

Areas the UK FCDO advises against visiting country

  • Kenya-Somalia border and northern parts of the east coast
  • Mandera County
  • Tarbaj and Wajir East constituencies in Wajir County, except for Wajir Town
  • areas of Wajir County within 60km of Kenya’s border with Somalia
  • Garissa County - except for Garissa Town, the constituency of Lagdera and the areas of Balambala constituency which lie north and west of the main road which runs from Saka on the Tana River up to the intersection with the C81 Road
  • Lamu County, except for Lamu Island and Manda Island
  • Garissa Town
  • Tana River County north of the Tana River as far as the town of Saka
  • within 15km of the east coast between the Tana River and the Galana (Athi-Galana-Sabaki) River

Named in the official UK travel advice for Kenya (in full or in part - the advisory lists exact boundaries and exceptions). These are country-level warnings and may be far from Takaba.

How safe is Takaba really?

No published homicide figure exists for Takaba itself, so the national rate stands in: Kenya recorded 4.7 homicides per 100,000 people in 2024 - close to the global city median. The city itself may be safer or more dangerous than its country's average. Kenya's income inequality is middling (Gini 38.5) - in this dataset inequality predicts city violence better than any other structural factor, so this neither raises nor lowers the picture much.

Takaba also carries some conflict exposure: UCDP recorded 47 deaths from organized violence within 100 km across 11 events in 2022-2024 - a factor crime statistics alone would miss. The deadliest recorded locations in that radius were Ogorweyn area, (26 deaths).

What the travel advisories say

The US State Department currently rates Kenya at level 2 of 4 - "Exercise increased caution" (updated 2026-07-27). The UK Foreign Office advises against all travel to parts of this country, naming 9 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 Kenya

Terrorism in Kenya · Lamu Island and Manda Island · Terrorist kidnap · Political situation · Protecting your belongings · Vehicle crime · Scams · Drink and food spiking · Methanol poisoning · Attacks and sexual assault · Social media and dating apps · Personal ID · Dress code · Smoking and e-cigarette bans · +15 more

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

The numbers

Homicide rate
4.7 /100knational rate, 2024
Conflict deaths
47within 100 km, 2022-2024 (UCDP)
Income inequality
Gini 38.5country, 2022
Human development
HDI 0.628country, 2023
Income
$6,910/yrGNI per capita PPP · context only, not scored
Population
114kurban centre · 8,753/km²

Country context for travelers

Road deaths
28.3 /100kWHO, 2019 · often the biggest real travel risk
Political stability
43/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · higher = more stable
Rule of law
49/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · police and courts reliability
Corruption perceptions
30/100Transparency International, 2025 · higher = cleaner
Natural-hazard risk
6.1/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
Women, Peace & Security
0.54Georgetown WPS Index, 2025 · 0-1, higher = better
Air quality
20.3 µg/m³PM2.5 annual mean, 2023 · WHO guideline is 5
Safely managed drinking water
no dataof the population · WHO/UNICEF JMP
Healthcare capacity
0.3 doctors /1k1.3 hospital beds per 1,000
Malaria
74 /1k at riskWHO, 2024 · listed for endemic countries only

Natural hazards in Kenya

Drought
6.6/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
Flood
5.2/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
Tsunami
3.2/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
Earthquake
2.7/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier

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

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

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

How the score works

Low homicide40%45
Peace25%58
Equality25%59
Development10%63

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 Takaba that gives 53.4/100. Full methodology, anchors and sources →

Takaba compared with El Wak

The nearest ranked city of comparable size. Green favours Takaba, red favours El Wak.
MeasureTakabaEl WakDifference
Safety score53.452.4+1.0 — better for Takaba
Homicide ratecity-measured where published, otherwise the national rate4.7 /100k4.7 /100k±0.0 /100k
Conflict deaths within 100 km4768−21 — better for Takaba

Differences are plain arithmetic between the two stored figures — nothing is modelled. Both cities are in Kenya, so they share every country-level figure and only the city-level ones are listed. Full report for El Wak

Nearby cities

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