Is Vitória de Santo Antão safe?
Brazil · South America · data updated 2026-09-04
Vitória de Santo Antão is a city in Brazil, home to about 108k people, and one of 6,168 cities worldwide ranked on this site from published safety data. It currently ranks 5,842 of 6,168, with a safety score of 39.6 out of 100, placing it clearly below the global midpoint.
Emergency Ambulance 192 · Fire 193 · Police 190 or 911
- UK FCDO advises against all but essential travel to parts of this country5 named areas - see "areas to avoid" below.
- Elevated homicide rate18.69 homicides per 100,000 per year (national rate), about 7× the global city median.
- High income inequalityGini 50.3 puts Brazil in the most unequal quarter of countries - the strongest structural predictor of city violence in this dataset (street crime and robbery tend to track it).
Areas the UK FCDO advises against visiting country
- Amazonas State
- along the Amazonas (Amazon) River and its tributaries west of the town of Codajás and east of the town of Belém do Solimões in Amazonas State
- along any part of the Itaquaí River in Amazonas State
- along any part of the Japurá River or its tributaries in Amazonas State
- along the Rio Negro (Black River) and its tributaries north or west of the town of Barcelos in Amazonas State
Named in the official UK travel advice for Brazil (in full or in part - the advisory lists exact boundaries and exceptions). These are country-level warnings and may be far from Vitória de Santo Antão.
How safe is Vitória de Santo Antão really?
No published homicide figure exists for Vitória de Santo Antão itself, so the national rate stands in: Brazil recorded 19 homicides per 100,000 people in 2024 - roughly 7 times the global city median. The city itself may be safer or more dangerous than its country's average. That matters because income inequality is the strongest structural predictor of city violence in this dataset, and Brazil's Gini of 50.3 puts it in the most unequal quarter of countries - conditions under which street crime and robbery tend to be a real concern.
Vitória de Santo Antão also carries some conflict exposure: UCDP recorded 34 deaths from organized violence within 100 km across 23 events in 2022-2024 - a factor crime statistics alone would miss.
What the travel advisories say
The US State Department currently rates Brazil at level 2 of 4 - "Exercise increased caution" (updated 2025-05-28). The UK Foreign Office advises against all but essential travel to parts of this country, naming 5 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 Brazil
Terrorism in Brazil · Protests and civil unrest · Favelas · Theft and robbery · Criminal Kidnapping · Scams · Sexual assault and drink spiking · Methanol poisoning · Child sexual abuse · Parental child abduction · Carjacking · Organised crime and militias · Personal ID · Illegal drugs and trafficking scams · +12 more
Topic headings from the official UK FCDO travel advice for Brazil — country-level, not specific to Vitória de Santo Antão. Read what each one says →
The numbers
- Homicide rate
- 19 /100knational rate, 2024 · ~7× the global city median
- Conflict deaths
- 34within 100 km, 2022-2024 (UCDP)
- Income inequality
- Gini 50.3country, 2024
- Human development
- HDI 0.786country, 2023
- Income
- $22,670/yrGNI per capita PPP · context only, not scored
- Population
- 108kurban centre · 6,356/km²
- Nearest airport
- 41 kmRecife/Guararapes - Gilberto Freyre International Airport (REC) · also JPA, 114 km
Straight-line distance from the city centre, not drive time. Scheduled-service airports only (OurAirports).
Country context for travelers
- Road deaths
- 16.0 /100kWHO, 2019 · often the biggest real travel risk
- Political stability
- 57/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · higher = more stable
- Rule of law
- 49/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · police and courts reliability
- Corruption perceptions
- 35/100Transparency International, 2025 · higher = cleaner
- Natural-hazard risk
- 4.7/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Women, Peace & Security
- 0.63Georgetown WPS Index, 2025 · 0-1, higher = better
- Air quality
- 13.4 µg/m³PM2.5 annual mean, 2023 · WHO guideline is 5
- Safely managed drinking water
- 89%of the population, 2024 · WHO/UNICEF JMP
- Healthcare capacity
- 2.4 doctors /1k2.5 hospital beds per 1,000
- Malaria
- 4 /1k at riskWHO, 2024 · listed for endemic countries only
Natural hazards in Brazil
- Flood
- 7.7/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Drought
- 4.5/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
Hazard types scoring under 1 out of 10 are not listed. These describe Brazil as a whole, not Vitória de Santo Antão specifically.
Same-sex sexual activity is legal in Brazil (as of 2025).
All country-level figures shared by every city in Brazil; 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 Vitória de Santo Antão that gives 39.6/100. Full methodology, anchors and sources →
Vitória de Santo Antão compared with Recife
| Measure | Vitória de Santo Antão | Recife | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Safety score | 39.6 | 34.8 | +4.7 — better for Vitória de Santo Antão |
| Homicide ratecity-measured where published, otherwise the national rate | 19 /100k | 39 /100k | −20 /100k — better for Vitória de Santo Antão |
| Conflict deaths within 100 km | 34 | 29 | +5 — better for Recife |
Differences are plain arithmetic between the two stored figures — nothing is modelled. Both cities are in Brazil, so they share every country-level figure and only the city-level ones are listed. Full report for Recife →
Nearby cities
- Cabo de Santo Agostinho 35.2
- Recife 34.8
- Caruaru 36.9
- Santa Cruz do Capibaribe 39.9
- João Pessoa 33.1
- Campina Grande 47.1
- Garanhuns 37.6
- Maceió 31.1
See Vitória de Santo Antão on the interactive map → · Safest cities in South America → · Full travel briefings →