Which are the safest countries in Africa?

How we chose these seven countries

The Institute for Economics and Peace groups countries into eight regions. Its sub-Saharan Africa table has 44 countries, and North African states such as Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Egypt sit in its Middle East and North Africa table. We looked at the upper part of both tables and selected seven countries: Mauritius, Botswana, Namibia, The Gambia, Madagascar, Morocco and Ghana. The selection aims for a spread of regions and for countries with enough published information to read.

We left out some higher-placed or popular countries without a judgement on them. Equatorial Guinea, for example, is second in the sub-Saharan table, but we did not find a homicide figure for it and did not read its advisories. For the countries we did read, we cite the index, the homicide series and the advisories separately, and we do not merge them into a score.

What the 2026 index says about the region

The 2026 Global Peace Index ranks 163 countries and territories on 23 indicators in three domains: societal safety and security, ongoing conflict and militarisation. It describes sub-Saharan Africa as the third least peaceful of its eight regions, with a regional average score of 2.283, and says the region now holds eight of the 20 least peaceful countries, compared with five in 2008. It links the longer-term fall in peacefulness to violent conflict across the continent, in particular terrorism in the Central Sahel.

That is the regional picture. It sits beside countries that score well. Mauritius is first in the sub-Saharan table and 18th in the world with 1.586. Lower numbers mean more peace. The Democratic Republic of the Congo, at 3.189, is the lowest in the region.

Mauritius: the highest sub-Saharan place in the index

Mauritius scores 1.586, 18th globally, and the report credits low conflict and stable institutions. The World Bank file gives an intentional homicide rate of 2.27 per 100,000 for 2022, the latest year available for it.

The US State Department rated Mauritius Level 2, exercise increased caution, in an advisory updated on 7 December 2025. Canada's page, read on 8 October 2026, says to take normal security precautions and notes that petty crime such as pickpocketing and bag snatching occurs sometimes. The UK page carried no regional warning flag. For stays on the island, see our listings around Grand Baie.

Botswana and Namibia: good index places, higher homicide figures

Botswana scores 1.823 and is 50th globally, third in the sub-Saharan table. Namibia scores 1.872 and is 63rd, sixth in the table. The latest homicide rates in the World Bank file are 11.37 per 100,000 for Botswana and 11.21 for Namibia, both for 2021. The world figure in the same series is 5.2 for 2023, so both countries sit at about twice that level.

This is a good example of why the sources need separate reading. The peace index counts a country's conflicts, militarisation and wider safety indicators, and it places both countries in the better half of its global table. The homicide series measures one kind of violent crime, and it is higher. The US rated Botswana Level 2 on 16 June 2026 and Namibia Level 2 on 14 May 2026. Canada's pages for both advise a high degree of caution because of crime, and Canada's Botswana page says crime occurs throughout the country, especially in border areas. The UK pages carried no regional warning flag. Our listing for Botswana and Namibia shows the stays we hold.

The Gambia and Madagascar: placed in the index, missing from the homicide file

The Gambia scores 1.837 and is 56th globally; Madagascar scores 1.849 and is 59th. Neither has a value in the World Bank homicide series we read, so we cannot give a rate and do not estimate one. That gap is typical. It means a good index place can sit beside no usable crime figure, and you should lean on the advisories for those countries.

The US rated both Level 2, with updates on 15 January 2026 for The Gambia and 4 December 2025 for Madagascar. Canada's Madagascar page advises a high degree of caution because of a high crime rate and the potential for political instability, and its page for The Gambia advises a high degree of caution because of petty crime. The UK pages for both countries carried no regional warning flag; the Madagascar page was updated on 9 September 2026 to add Ebola entry requirements, a health-related border measure.

Morocco: North Africa's higher place in the index

Morocco scores 1.887 and is 65th globally, fourth in the index's Middle East and North Africa table. Its latest homicide rate on file is 1.71 per 100,000 for 2023, the most recent year among our seven. Tunisia, which the index places 77th, has a rate of 4.69 but for 2020, and Egypt's latest value is 1.31 for 2017, which shows how old some entries are.

The US rated Morocco Level 2 in an advisory updated on 3 September 2026. Canada's page advises a high degree of caution because of the threat of terrorism and lists areas to avoid: the Western Sahara border regions and the strip within 20 km of the Algerian border. It also advises against non-essential travel to Western Sahara itself. The UK page for Morocco carried no regional warning flag when read. The differences between the cities and these border areas are large, and the advisory exists to mark them. Our page for Marrakech covers the stays we hold there.

Ghana: a region-by-region advisory

Ghana scores 1.943 and is 76th globally, ninth in the sub-Saharan table. The homicide rate on file is 1.83 per 100,000 for 2022. The US rated it Level 2, updated on 6 July 2026, and the UK page carried a flag advising against all but essential travel to parts of the country when we read it.

Canada's page advises a high degree of caution because of crime and, separately, advises against non-essential travel within 25 km of the border with Burkina Faso, citing inter-communal disputes and terrorist activity. That is a typical pattern in the region, where a national level is split by area. Read the regions on the pages if you plan to leave the capital, Accra.

The seven side by side

The table follows the order of the index's global rank. The homicide column gives the latest value in the World Bank series, with its year, and the advisory column gives the US level with the date the State Department last updated it.

Gaps and limits in African crime data

Three things limit the homicide figures. First, coverage: in the file we read, The Gambia, Madagascar and Equatorial Guinea have no value, and several other African countries have entries from years long past. Second, timing: our seven countries use data from 2021, 2022 and 2023, so a comparison between rows mixes years. Third, definition: the series is intentional homicide, which excludes other crimes that matter to a visitor.

The World Bank also publishes a regional aggregate for sub-Saharan Africa, 12.2 per 100,000 for 2023. The file does not show how many countries lie behind it, so we do not use it to describe any single country. When a number is missing or old, the absence is information about reporting, not a sign that a country is safer or less safe.

Differences inside countries

National figures hide local ones. In the advisories we read, the pattern is of border areas, specific regions and cities that differ from the national picture: the Burkina Faso border in Ghana, the Western Sahara and Algerian border zones in Morocco, the Angolan border area in Namibia, and border areas with neighbouring countries in Botswana.

Natural and health hazards also vary by place and season. The UK pages for Mauritius and Madagascar carried Ebola-related entry notes, and the Gambia page noted flooding and power shortages in a July 2026 update. These are separate from crime and are the kind of detail the official pages are for.

How the advisories compare

On 8 October 2026 the US rated all seven countries Level 2. The UK pages carried no regional warning flag for six of them, and Ghana had one. Canada's pages ranged from normal security precautions for Mauritius to a high degree of caution for the other six. We did not read Australia's Smartraveller, which could not be reached.

A government's level reflects its own method and its citizens' circumstances, so the same country can differ between sources. Compare the text, not only the number, and check the live pages for your travel dates.

Planning a stay

On a longer trip, practical habits matter more than a country's headline place: choosing a well-lit area, keeping valuables out of sight and arranging transport at night through your accommodation. A kitchen also helps on a long stay where eating out is a large share of the budget, and our guide to choosing an aparthotel lists what to check.

The table below lists the stays we hold in the countries discussed, in the order given. It is catalogue data, not a safety measure.