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IsItSafeToTravel

Last update: July 12, 2026

Updated daily

Democratic Republic of the Congo

4 3.9 out of 10

Safety Score

Not recommended

+0.0 vs 7 days ago

Last updated: July 12, 2026 90% data coverage

Democratic Republic of the Congo has a safety score of 3.9/10 as of July 12, 2026, rated as High risk and ranking 243rd out of 248 countries worldwide. The biggest concern is governance (1.9/10), while the strongest area is environment (5.3/10). This score is calculated daily from 40+ independent public sources.

What are the safety risk areas?

Governance 1.9/10
Health 3.0/10
Conflict 3.1/10
Crime 3.6/10
Environment 5.3/10
Indicator-level detail

Governance 1.9/10 · High · Coverage: 100%

Indicators Value Source Year
vdem rule of law 1.1/10 vdem 2025
vdem gov effectiveness 1.9/10 vdem 2025
vdem corruption control 1.1/10 vdem 2025
inform governance 1.8/10 inform 2026

Health 3.0/10 · High · Coverage: 100%

Indicators Value Source Year
wb child mortality 5.5/10 worldbank 2024
inform health 0.5/10 inform 2026
inform epidemic 1.7/10 inform 2026

Conflict 3.1/10 · High · Coverage: 100%

Indicators Value Source Year
gpi overall 2.7/10 gpi 2026
gpi militarisation 7.6/10 gpi 2026
ucdp conflict deaths 1.1/10 ucdp 2025

Crime 3.6/10 · High · Coverage: 50%

Indicators Value Source Year
gpi safety security 3.6/10 gpi 2026

Environment 5.3/10 · Moderate · Coverage: 100%

Indicators Value Source Year
wb air pollution 6.4/10 worldbank 2023
inform natural 6.0/10 inform 2026
inform climate 3.0/10 inform 2026
reliefweb active disasters 7.0/10 reliefweb 2026
gdacs disaster alerts 8.0/10 gdacs 2026

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What do governments say?

Australian Government

Level 4

Do not travel

Updated: Jul 12, 2026 Source

UK FCDO

Level 3

Advise against all but essential travel

Updated: Jun 23, 2026 Source

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it safe to travel to Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2026?

No — Democratic Republic of the Congo is currently a high-risk destination: as of July 2026 it scores 3.9/10 on our daily safety index, classified as High risk, and travel requires serious caution. The score is an uncertainty-weighted (Bayesian shrinkage) geometric mean of five pillars — conflict (30%), crime (25%), health (20%), governance (15%) and environment (10%) — combined with a calibrated consensus of government travel advisories, so a weak pillar drags the overall score down more than a strong one lifts it, and thin or stale data pulls a country's score toward a cautious regional baseline rather than guessing.

environment (5.3/10) is Democratic Republic of the Congo's strongest pillar, while the score is pulled down by health (3.0/10) and above all by governance (1.9/10). This pillar gauges the rule of law and the reliability of institutions — a low score means police and courts may offer limited help if something goes wrong.

It is recalculated every day from public sources including government travel advisories, the Global Peace Index, the INFORM Risk Index and World Bank indicators.

What is the biggest risk when traveling to Democratic Republic of the Congo?

The main concern for Democratic Republic of the Congo is governance, its weakest pillar at 1.9/10. This pillar gauges the rule of law and the reliability of institutions — a low score means police and courts may offer limited help if something goes wrong.

The lowest-scoring signals here are rule of law (V-Dem) and control of corruption (V-Dem). The second-lowest area is health at 3.0/10, so it deserves attention too.

By contrast, environment scores 5.3/10 and is Democratic Republic of the Congo's strongest area.

What do government travel advisories say about Democratic Republic of the Congo?

As of July 2026, Democratic Republic of the Congo has 8 government travel advisories on record. Most governments now advise against all travel to Democratic Republic of the Congo: the highest-level warning — do not travel — has been issued by Australia and New Zealand, among others.

Find flights to Democratic Republic of the Congo · Kinshasa (FIH)

How does Democratic Republic of the Congo compare to nearby countries?

CountryScoreConflictCrimeHealthGovernanceEnvironment
Seychelles7.88.56.37.87.97.9
Mauritius7.88.37.47.36.57.5
Cabo Verde7.57.86.87.56.17.6
Botswana7.57.96.67.26.57.1
Democratic Republic of the Congo3.93.13.63.01.95.3

Democratic Republic of the Congo and its neighbouring countries

Related Countries

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How has the safety score changed over time?

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Where does the data come from?

  • Travel advisories from 37 governments worldwide including US, UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, Netherlands, Japan, Slovakia, France, New Zealand, Ireland, Finland, Hong Kong, Brazil, Austria, Philippines, Belgium, Denmark, Singapore, Romania, Serbia, Estonia, Croatia, Argentina, Italy, Spain, South Korea, Taiwan, China, India, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, and Portugal

    Fetched: Jul 12, 2026

  • gdacsFresh

    Global Disaster Alerting Coordination System -- natural disaster alerts

    Fetched: Jul 12, 2026

  • gpiFresh

    Global Peace Index -- annual peacefulness ranking by IEP

    Fetched: Jul 12, 2026

  • informFresh

    INFORM Risk Index -- hazard, exposure, vulnerability, and coping capacity

    Fetched: Jul 12, 2026

  • ReliefWeb -- humanitarian situation reports and disaster alerts

    Fetched: Jul 12, 2026

  • ucdpFresh

    UCDP Georeferenced Event Dataset (Uppsala Conflict Data Program) -- state-based and one-sided conflict deaths, via the Our World in Data mirror (CC-BY)

    Fetched: Jul 12, 2026

  • vdemFresh

    V-Dem Institute Country-Year Dataset v16 (CC-BY-SA 4.0) -- Rule of Law, Political Corruption, and Public Administration indices (Coppedge et al., DOI 10.23696/vdemds26)

    Fetched: Jul 12, 2026

  • World Bank Development Indicators -- child mortality and PM2.5 air pollution

    Fetched: Jul 12, 2026