Tal Afar scores 49 out of 100 (moderate safety) on World Safety Map, ranked 5276 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 Tal Afar safe?

Iraq · Asia · data updated 2026-09-04

49.1Moderate · rank 5276 / 6,168
safer than 14% of ranked cities

Tal Afar is a city in Iraq, home to about 237k people, and one of 6,168 cities worldwide ranked on this site from published safety data. It currently ranks 5,276 of 6,168, with a safety score of 49.1 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 122 · Fire 115 · Police 911

US State Department: Do not travelOfficial travel advisory level 4 of 4 for Iraq, updated 2026-08-28.
UK FCDO advises against all travel to parts of this country24 named areas - see "areas to avoid" below.
Elevated homicide rate9.46 homicides per 100,000 per year (national rate), about 3× the global city median.

Deadliest recorded locations nearby

Kocharat area in Al-Malikiyah (Derik) countryside30 deaths · 1 event
Sinjār district13 deaths · 6 events
Jabal Qarrah area in Al-Malikiyah countryside (Dayrek) in Al-Hasakah province11 deaths · 1 event

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

Areas the UK FCDO advises against visiting country

Federal Iraq
Kurdistan Region of Iraq
The parts of Anbar province which are west of, but not including Ramadi City
Diyala province except for Baqubah City
Kirkuk province
Ninawa province
Salah al-Din province
Jurf al-Sakr town in Babil province
Sadr City, part of Baghdad province
Within 5km of areas that border Iran in Wasit, Maysan and Basra provinces
Within 5km of Iraq’s borders with Saudi Arabia and Kuwait
The remainder of Al-Muthanna province
Al-Qadasiyah province
The remainder of Anbar province
Babil province (except Jurf al-Sakr town)
Baghdad province (except Sadr City)
The remainder of Basra province, including Highways 1 and 8 and the Safwan-Kuwait border crossing
Dhi Qar Province
Karbala Province
The remainder of Maysan province
The remainder of Najaf province
The remainder of Wasit province
Baqubah City in Diyala province
The road sections of Highway 34 between Baghdad and Baqubah, and Highway 2 between Baqubah and Erbil

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

How safe is Tal Afar really?

No published homicide figure exists for Tal Afar itself, so the national rate stands in: Iraq recorded 9.5 homicides per 100,000 people in 2013 - roughly 3 times the global city median. The city itself may be safer or more dangerous than its country's average. Iraq is also one of the more equal societies in the dataset (Gini 29.8), and low inequality is the strongest structural predictor of low city violence in this data.

Tal Afar also carries some conflict exposure: UCDP recorded 283 deaths from organized violence within 100 km across 105 events in 2022-2024 - a factor crime statistics alone would miss. The deadliest recorded locations in that radius were Kocharat area in Al-Malikiyah (Derik) countryside (30 deaths), Sinjār district (13 deaths), Jabal Qarrah area in Al-Malikiyah countryside (Dayrek) in Al-Hasakah province (11 deaths).

What the travel advisories say

The US State Department currently rates Iraq at level 4 of 4 - "Do not travel" (updated 2026-08-28). The UK Foreign Office advises against all travel to parts of this country, naming 24 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 Iraq

Terrorism in Iraq · UK prosecution for terrorism offences · Terrorist kidnap · Protests · Curfews · Crime · Personal ID · Lost and stolen passports · Ramadan · The Arba’-een · Child custody · Journalists · Alcohol laws and bans · Illegal drugs and prison sentences · +8 more

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

The numbers

Homicide rate: 9.5 /100knational rate, 2013 · ~3× the global city median
Conflict deaths: 283within 100 km, 2022-2024 (UCDP)
Income inequality: Gini 29.8country, 2023
Human development: HDI 0.695country, 2023
Income: $14,290/yrGNI per capita PPP · context only, not scored
Population: 237kurban centre · 9,133/km²

Country context for travelers

Road deaths: 27.3 /100kWHO, 2019 · often the biggest real travel risk
Political stability: 31/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · higher = more stable
Rule of law: 34/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · police and courts reliability
Corruption perceptions: 28/100Transparency International, 2025 · higher = cleaner
Natural-hazard risk: 5.7/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
Women, Peace & Security: 0.51Georgetown WPS Index, 2025 · 0-1, higher = better
Air quality: 49.5 µg/m³PM2.5 annual mean, 2023 · WHO guideline is 5
Safely managed drinking water: 60%of the population, 2024 · WHO/UNICEF JMP
Healthcare capacity: 1.0 doctors /1k1.1 hospital beds per 1,000
Malaria: 0 /1k at riskWHO, 2024 · listed for endemic countries only

Natural hazards in Iraq

Flood: 9.5/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
Drought: 7.5/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
Earthquake: 5.1/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier

Hazard types scoring under 1 out of 10 are not listed. These describe Iraq as a whole, not Tal Afar specifically.

Same-sex sexual activity is legal in Iraq (as of 2025).

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

How the score works

Low homicide40%32

Peace25%39

Equality25%78

Development10%70

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 Tal Afar that gives 49.1/100. Full methodology, anchors and sources →

Tal Afar compared with Mosul

The nearest ranked city of comparable size. Green favours Tal Afar, red favours Mosul.
Measure	Tal Afar	Mosul	Difference
Safety score	49.1	47.6	+1.5 — better for Tal Afar
Homicide ratecity-measured where published, otherwise the national rate	9.5 /100k	9.5 /100k	±0.0 /100k
Conflict deaths within 100 km	283	501	−218 — better for Tal Afar

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

Nearby cities

See Tal Afar on the interactive map → · Safest cities in Asia → · Full travel briefings →