Timbuktu scores 54 out of 100 (moderate safety) on World Safety Map, ranked 4968 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 Timbuktu safe?

Mali · Africa · data updated 2026-09-04

53.7Moderate · rank 4968 / 6,168
safer than 19% of ranked cities

Timbuktu is a city in Mali, home to about 114k people, and one of 6,168 cities worldwide ranked on this site from published safety data. It currently ranks 4,968 of 6,168, with a safety score of 53.7 out of 100, which lands it in the middle band of the ranking.

UK FCDO advises against all travel to this country

Emergency Police 17 · Ambulance 15 · Fire 18

UK FCDO advises against all travel to this countryOfficial UK government travel advice, updated 2026-07-10.

Deadliest recorded locations nearby

Assidi, Timbuktu near Timbuktu Assidi located 10km northeast of Tombouctou Assidi sector, some 19 km from Timbuktu20 deaths · 1 event
Tabaghart, Ber10 deaths · 1 event
Ber8 deaths · 2 events

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

How safe is Timbuktu really?

Neither Timbuktu nor Mali has a published homicide rate in the sources this site uses (UNODC and the Igarapé Homicide Monitor), so the strongest single indicator of city safety is simply missing here. Mali's income inequality is middling (Gini 35.7) - in this dataset inequality predicts city violence better than any other structural factor, so this neither raises nor lowers the picture much.

Timbuktu also carries some conflict exposure: UCDP recorded 131 deaths from organized violence within 100 km across 41 events in 2022-2024 - a factor crime statistics alone would miss. The deadliest recorded locations in that radius were Assidi, Timbuktu near Timbuktu Assidi located 10km northeast of Tombouctou Assidi sector, some 19 km from Timbuktu (20 deaths), Tabaghart, Ber (10 deaths), Ber (8 deaths).

What the travel advisories say

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 Mali

Terrorism in Mali · Terrorist kidnap · Political situation · Personal safety · Criminal kidnapping · Vehicle crime · Personal ID · Ramadan · Using cameras · Commercial disputes · LGBT+ travellers · Road travel · Road safety · Fuel shortages · +2 more

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

The numbers

Homicide rate: no data
Conflict deaths: 131within 100 km, 2022-2024 (UCDP)
Income inequality: Gini 35.7country, 2021
Human development: HDI 0.419country, 2023
Income: $3,400/yrGNI per capita PPP · context only, not scored
Population: 114kurban centre · 8,731/km²

Country context for travelers

Road deaths: 22.7 /100kWHO, 2019 · often the biggest real travel risk
Political stability: 23/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · higher = more stable
Rule of law: 38/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · police and courts reliability
Corruption perceptions: 28/100Transparency International, 2025 · higher = cleaner
Natural-hazard risk: 7.3/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
Women, Peace & Security: 0.48Georgetown WPS Index, 2025 · 0-1, higher = better
Air quality: 35.5 µg/m³PM2.5 annual mean, 2023 · WHO guideline is 5
Safely managed drinking water: no dataof the population · WHO/UNICEF JMP
Healthcare capacity: 0.2 doctors /1k0.3 hospital beds per 1,000
Malaria: 346 /1k at riskWHO, 2024 · listed for endemic countries only

Natural hazards in Mali

Flood: 7.9/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
Drought: 6.7/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier

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

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

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

How the score works

Low homicide40%no data

Peace25%47

Equality25%65

Development10%42

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 Timbuktu that gives 53.7/100. Full methodology, anchors and sources →

Timbuktu compared with Sévaré

The nearest ranked city of comparable size. Green favours Timbuktu, red favours Sévaré.
Measure	Timbuktu	Sévaré	Difference
Safety score	53.7	43.0	+10.7 — better for Timbuktu
Homicide ratecity-measured where published, otherwise the national rate	no data	no data	—
Conflict deaths within 100 km	131	1,399	−1,268 — better for Timbuktu

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

Nearby cities

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