What is the safest country in each region of Africa?

Morocco leads North Africa (68.9), Cape Verde West Africa (64.9), Mauritius East Africa (76.6), Botswana Southern Africa (59.3) and São Tomé and Príncipe Central Africa (55.6). Regions follow the UN geoscheme.

Is South Africa safe to visit?

South Africa scores 29.2 out of 100 and ranks 52nd of the 54 African countries. It does well on cybersecurity (85.0) but has the lowest public safety score in Africa (5.0), driven by its homicide rate. The score is national: conditions vary widely between regions and cities, so check your government's travel advice for your itinerary.

Which African countries are safest for tourists?

The ten highest scores in Africa belong to Mauritius, the Seychelles, Morocco, Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Cape Verde, Ghana, Rwanda and Botswana. The index measures general safety for travellers at national level; always check official advice for the regions you plan to visit.

How does Africa compare with other continents?

On the same world scale, Africa's 54 countries average 48.3 out of 100, against 56.1 for the Americas, 68.2 for Asia, 70.3 for Oceania and 85.5 for Europe. Africa has the lowest continental average on health security (27.3), political stability (31.1) and environmental risk (22.3); on public safety it averages 83.3, above the Americas (60.4).

HelloSafe Safety Index2026 edition · 54 African countries · 5 pillars

The safest countries in Africa in 2026

The 54 African countries scored out of 100 on the world Safety Index scale, from public data across five pillars: public safety, health, stability, climate and cyber.

Global top 3 · 2026score /100

60–10050–6040–50under 40

A. Fruchard
Co-Founder & Travel Insurance Expert

Last updated: October 13, 2026100 % public, traceable data

Key facts to remember

The index in 30 seconds

54African countries ranked, on the world index scale

48.3Africa's average score /100

76.6Mauritius, the safest country in Africa

25countries published, the 5 safest of each region

Key takeaways · 20-second read

Mauritius (76.6), the Seychelles (72.0) and Morocco (68.9) are the three safest countries in Africa; the two island states are the only ones above 70.
North Africa has the highest regional average (60.0): Morocco, Egypt, Algeria and Tunisia fill places 3 to 6. Southern Africa has the lowest (40.5).
Region leaders: Cape Verde (64.9) in West Africa, Botswana (59.3) in Southern Africa, São Tomé and Príncipe (55.6) in Central Africa.
Health security is the continent's weak point: 27.3/100 on average, against 83.3 for public safety.
Same scores as the world ranking: Mauritius is 48th of the 181 countries of the world index.

How is the index built? See the methodology ↓

01 · Africa ranking

2026 Africa ranking

Every published African country ranked on the same 0–100 score as the world ranking, with its place among the 181 countries of the world index. Click a country for its five pillar scores.

Search a country…

#1 in Africa · #1 in East Africa · #48 worldwide

Mauritius

76.6/10060–100

Mauritius scores 76.6/100, #1 in Africa, #1 in East Africa and #48 worldwide. Its strongest pillar is Cybersecurity (100.0), its weakest Environmental risk (55.2). Before you go, check that your policy covers trip interruption after a natural disaster.

Pillar breakdown

Public safety & crime 35 %95.5

Health security 25 %64.5

Political stability 20 %68.9

Environmental risk 15 %55.2

Cybersecurity 5 %100.0

Pillar scores on 100, weighted into the overall 76.6.

Insurance for Mauritius →

02 · Where the safe countries are

The geography of safety in Africa

Every published country in its tier colour. Click a tier to show or hide it, click a country for its rank and score.

Showing 48 of 48 published countries · click a country for its info

Why are some countries grey? All 54 African countries are scored, but this page shows the 5 safest of each region, 25 in all. The 29 others stay in the dataset and are not mapped. What this study does not show ↓

03 · Regional rankings

Safest countries by region of Africa

Africa's five regions, as defined by the UN, each ranked on its own: every country with its rank in its region, in Africa and worldwide. North Africa leads on average (60.0), ahead of West Africa (49.1), East Africa (49.0), Central Africa (41.7) and Southern Africa (40.5).

North Africa · average 60.0 · 6 countries scored, 5 published

Safest countries in North Africa

1Morocco68.9#3
2Egypt66.7#4
3Algeria65.4#5
4Tunisia65.2#6
5Libya53.1#17

Reader service: health security is the lowest pillar across the continent, so medical expenses and repatriation are the cover to check before a trip to Africa. Compare policies by medical limit with our travel insurance comparison.

Reading the results

What separates Africa's safest countries

Public safety is where African countries score best: 83.3 out of 100 on average, and 20 of the 54 score 90 or more. Mauritania (98.3), Guinea-Bissau (98.1) and Benin (98.0) have the highest public safety scores on the continent.

Health security pulls almost every score down: 27.3 on average. Five countries pass 60: the Seychelles (70.9), Mauritius and Tunisia (64.5 each), Egypt (63.4) and Morocco (61.3), which is largely why they lead the ranking.

Political stability separates the leaders from the rest: the Seychelles (78.1), Cape Verde (72.4) and Botswana (70.9) are the only countries above 70, against an African average of 31.1.

South Africa is the outlier: 85.0 on cybersecurity and 44.6 on political stability, but 5.0 on public safety, the lowest score on that pillar in Africa. With 29.2 overall, it ranks 52nd of the 54 African countries.

04 · How we score

Methodology

Built by HelloSafe's travel insurance team, independently of our comparison. The scores are those of the world Safety Index: a country carries the same score, on the same scale, on both pages. Every figure comes from a public international dataset, so the ranking can be reproduced from the sources.

Score /100= weighted sum35 %Public safety & crime25 %Health security20 %Political stability15 %Environmental risk5 %Cybersecurity

SourcesUNODC, World Bank WGI, WHO, ITU GCI, ND-GAIN. Regions: UN geoscheme (M49).

ProcessingMin-max 0–100 across the 181 countries of the world index, negatives inverted, outliers winsorised, gaps filled with regional median.

RobustnessRank correlation of 0.91 with equal weights across the 54 African countries; the top 10 is the same.

Formula Safety Index = 0.35 × Safety + 0.25 × Health + 0.20 × Stability + 0.15 × Environment + 0.05 × Cyber

What this study does not show

Only the 5 safest countries of each region are published (25 of 54); the other scores stay in the dataset.
Colour bands are this page's own (60–100, 50–60, 40–50, under 40): on the world page's bands (90, 80, 70), 23 of the 25 published countries would share the lowest one.
Micro-states under 100,000 inhabitants are excluded.
Sovereign states only: UN member states are ranked; territories are excluded.
For 27 of the 54 African countries without a recent homicide figure, the latest UNODC value (2012 or later) or the WHO 2021 estimate is used.
No detail within a country: regions and cities can differ widely from the national score.
Relative, not absolute: a score compares countries with each other, it does not certify a destination as risk-free.
Not a travel advisory: always check your government's official advice before travelling.
Data window: latest release of each source at publication, so recent events may not be reflected yet.

New in 2026First Africa edition54 countries, 5 regionsSame scale as the world indexMauritius #1

Questions on the method? Contact us →

05 · For journalists

Visuals you can publish

This is exactly what your readers will see: the live block, with its credit link. Free to reproduce; a PNG version is included for CMSs that strip iframes.

HelloSafe Safety Index 2026

The safest countries in Africa60–10050–6040–50under 40Source: HelloSafe, The safest countries in Africa in 2026

Map of Africa · live embed, PNG version includedDownload PNG

“Mauritius is the safest country in Africa with a score of 76.6 out of 100, ahead of the Seychelles (72.0) and Morocco (68.9), according to the HelloSafe Safety Index, which ranks 54 African countries.”

“North Africa is the continent's safest region on average, at 60.0 out of 100; Cape Verde leads West Africa, Botswana Southern Africa and São Tomé and Príncipe Central Africa.”

“Health security is Africa's weakest pillar, at 27.3 out of 100 on average against 83.3 for public safety, in the HelloSafe Safety Index.”

Quotes by Pauline Laurore, travel insurance expert and author of the index · Contact us

Good to know

Frequently asked questions

Mauritius tops the Africa ranking of the HelloSafe Safety Index with 76.6 out of 100, ahead of the Seychelles (72.0) and Morocco (68.9). It is 48th of the 181 countries of the world index. It scores 100 on cybersecurity, 95.5 on public safety and has the best environmental score in Africa (55.2).

Index updatesThe 2027 ranking is on its way. Be the first to see it.New scores, new countries, the dataset and the press kit, in your inbox on publication day.

Once a year, plus corrections. Privacy policy

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