Travel Risk Atlas

DR Congo

Middle Africa · Capital Kinshasa

Level 4 United States Do Not Travel FCDO United Kingdom Against all travel to parts Orange Netherlands Orange — essential travel only Level 4 Canada Avoid all travel AA Germany Teilreisewarnung — advises against travel to parts

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

80.5 Extreme risk
Atlas Risk Score · 218th safest of 220
City skyline with buildings and a stadium
Photo: Valdhy Mbemba / Unsplash

Where the risk actually is

Each region is coloured by the advice that applies to most of it, drawn by hand from the wording of all five government advisories. Numbered markers flag localised warnings — usually a border strip or remote interior — that cover only a small part of an otherwise lower-risk region.

Bandundu — Essential travel onlyBas-Congo — Essential travel onlyBas-Congo — Essential travel onlyKasaï-Occidental — Essential travel onlyKasaï-Oriental — Essential travel onlyKatanga — Essential travel onlyKinshasa City — Essential travel onlyManiema — Do not travelNorth Kivu — Do not travelIturi and Haut-Uélé — Do not travelSouth Kivu — Do not travelÉquateur — Essential travel onlyLake AlbertLake TanganyikaLac MoeruLake BangweuluLake KivuLake EdwardLac TumbaLac Mai-NdombeLake RentenueLake BunyonyiLake CheshiLac Upemba1. Central African Republic border — Do not travel12. Northern Katanga — Do not travel23. Kinshasa districts and the N1 — Essential travel only3
What governments advise Do not travel Essential travel only Localised warning — see the notes below

What the warnings actually cover

  • Ituri and Haut-Uélé — Do not travel. Do-not-travel to the whole east — North and South Kivu, Maniema, Ituri and Haut-Uélé — where armed groups and the M23 conflict make this among the most dangerous regions on earth. Includes the entire South Sudan border.
  • 1
    Central African Republic border — Do not travel. Do-not-travel within 50km of the CAR border.
  • 2
    Northern Katanga — Do not travel. Do-not-travel to Tanganyika and Haut-Lomami in the north of the old Katanga province.
  • 3
    Kinshasa districts and the N1 — Essential travel only. Essential-travel-only for the N'djili and Kimbanseke districts of Kinshasa and the N1 east of the city. Central Kinshasa and the airport road are excluded.

A numbered marker warns about the small area described in its note — the rest of that region carries the base advice. Mapped by hand from the official wording in July 2026; always check the current advisory before you book.

What drives the score

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

Conflict & terrorism
15% of score
100/100
220th of 220
Road & transport
10% of score
91/100
211th of 220
Health & medical
15% of score
88/100
214th of 220
Official advisories
25% of score
80/100
201st of 220
Crime
15% of score
77/100
216th of 220
Political stability
10% of score
76/100
215th of 220
Natural hazards
10% of score · mainly flooding, earthquakes
40/100
133rd of 220
Women's safety
not in the score
73/100

Biggest factor here: conflict & terrorism. Armed conflict, political violence and terrorism exposure.

Practical facts

The things worth knowing before you land.

Emergency number
112
Unreliable — hotels and guides are often the fastest route to help
Currency
CDF FC
Languages
French
Kikongo, Lingala, Swahili
Visa (EU passport)
e-Visa
US: e-Visa · UK: e-Visa
Population
112.8m
World Bank 2025
Capital
Kinshasa
Driving
On the right
34.9 road deaths per 100k
Power
Type C, D
220-240V
Safely managed water
12%
Most households lack it · of residents, not a tap-water verdict
Dialling code
+243
GDP per capita
$807
A rough guide to price levels
Visitors a year
351k
International arrivals, 2016
Malaria risk
10.0/10
INFORM exposure score — see a travel clinic

When to go

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

Mildest and driest around June to September.

Daytime high 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. DR Congo is big. These numbers describe Kinshasa only — elsewhere in the country can be nothing like it.

Compare with neighbours

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 DR Congo:

CDC Travelers' HealthTravelHealthPro (NHS/UKHSA)

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.