Travel Risk Atlas

Cape Verde

Western Africa · Capital Praia

Each opens that government's own advisory for Cape Verde — the authoritative version, updated far faster than this page.

24.8 Low risk
Atlas Risk Score · 89th safest of 220
Pico do Fogo — Cape Verde
Photo: Cayambe / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0

Where the risk actually is

Risk is rarely spread evenly across a country. The base colour is the code the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs gives Cape Verde as a whole; shaded regions are those the UK Foreign Office names in an advisory against travel.

Boa Vista — Travel with cautionBrava — Travel with cautionMaio — Travel with cautionMosteiros — Travel with cautionPaul — Travel with cautionPorto Novo — Travel with cautionPraia — Travel with cautionRibeira Brava — Travel with cautionRibeira Grande de Santiago — Travel with cautionRibeira Grande — Travel with cautionSal — Travel with cautionSanta Catarina do Fogo — Travel with cautionSanta Catarina — Travel with cautionSanta Cruz — Travel with cautionSão Domingos — Travel with cautionSão Filipe — Travel with cautionSão Lourenço dos Órgãos — Travel with cautionSão Miguel — Travel with cautionSão Salvador do Mundo — Travel with cautionSão Vicente — Travel with cautionSão Vicente — Travel with cautionSão Vicente — Travel with cautionTarrafal de São Nicolau — Travel with cautionTarrafal — Travel with caution
What governments advise Travel with caution

This map reads stronger than the world map's colour, and both are right. The world map shades Cape Verde by its Atlas Risk Score — 25, Low — which blends government advice with crime, health, roads and natural hazards. This map shows the advice alone, and the strongest level anywhere in Cape Verde is “travel with caution”.

What the warnings actually cover

  • Whole countryTravel with caution. No government currently advises against travel to any part of this country. The colour reflects general caution levels only, not a warned area.

Shading marks whole regions named in an advisory, but a warning is often narrower — a border strip, one road, or a single city. Read the wording, and check the official advisory linked below.

What drives the score

Each pillar is scored 0–100 against every other country. Longer bar = more risk.

Road & transport
10% of score
69/100
177th of 220
Health & medical
15% of score
35/100
132nd of 220
Political stability
10% of score
31/100
81st of 220
Crime
15% of score
28/100
68th of 220
Natural hazards
10% of score · mainly drought
16/100
9th of 220
Official advisories
25% of score
13/100
91st of 220
Conflict & terrorism
15% of score
3/100
37th of 220
Women's safety
not in the score
53/100

Biggest factor here: road & transport. Road deaths per 100,000 people - the risk travellers most underestimate.

Practical facts

The things worth knowing before you land.

Emergency number
132
Police 132 · Ambulance 131
Currency
CVE Esc
Languages
Portuguese
Visa (EU passport)
30 days visa-free
US: 30 days visa-free · UK: 30 days visa-free
Population
527k
World Bank 2025
Capital
Praia
Driving
On the right
26.8 road deaths per 100k
Power
Type C, F
220-240V
Basic water access
92%
Mostly, but not everywhere · of residents, not a tap-water verdict
Dialling code
+238
GDP per capita
$6k
A rough guide to price levels
Visitors a year
758k
International arrivals, 2019
Malaria risk
4.5/10
INFORM exposure score — see a travel clinic

When to go

Average daytime high and nightly low for Praia, over 2010-2019. Bars are rainfall; the colour band is how hot the days get.

Mildest and driest around All year.

Daytime high warm hot
Top figure is the average daytime high, below it the average nightly low, and millimetres of rain under each bar. Figures are the average daytime high; bar heights are the month's rainfall. Shaded months are the mild, drier ones. Source: NASA POWER daily observations, 2010-2019, public domain.

Sources for this page

Vaccinations, malaria and outbreaks. This atlas does not give medical advice — it is personal, it changes, and it is the one thing worth getting from a doctor. Both national services publish current advice for Cape Verde:

Check the official advisory before you book. This page reflects data as of August 2026. Advisories change without warning, and only your own government's advice affects your travel insurance.