Democratic Republic of the Congo

Is DR Congo safe to visit?

No. The Democratic Republic of the Congo has two emergencies at once: a war in the east that peace deals have not stopped, and the largest Ebola outbreak in the country's history. The US advisoryUS travel advisoryThe US State Department's rating of each country from Level 1 (exercise normal precautions) to Level 4 (do not travel).More in the glossary is Level 4, "do not travel", citing health, crime, unrest, terrorism and kidnapping, and the UK advises against all travel to seven eastern provinces. We score the DRC 31, above Haiti but below Nigeria and well below the DRC's eastern neighbours Uganda and Rwanda.

The country is huge, and risks differ sharply by region. Kinshasa, the capital, is not a war zone, but it has serious street crime and the health system offers little backup. The east, from Ituri down to Tanganyika, is where the fighting and the Ebola outbreak overlap.

The Ebola outbreak

On 15 May 2026 the health ministry declared the DRC's 17th Ebola outbreak, caused by Bundibugyo virus and first detected in Ituri province. WHO declared it a public health emergency of international concern on 17 May. By 6 October, WHO counted 8,728 confirmed cases and 4,205 deaths, a fatality rate of 48%, across 64 health zones in seven provinces: Ituri, North Kivu, South Kivu, Haut-Uélé, Bas-Uélé, Tshopo and Sud-Ubangi. Ituri accounts for about three quarters of cases. Around 480 new cases were still being confirmed each week in late September, and WHO rates the national risk as very high.

Unlike the more common Zaire strain, Bundibugyo virus has no licensed vaccine or specific treatment. The outbreak has spread beyond the DRC: an imported case died in Kenya on 5 October after travelling through Uganda, and a health worker was evacuated to the Netherlands. CDC says avoid all travel to Ituri and North Kivu and reconsider non-essential travel to Haut-Uélé and Tshopo. The US now stops anyone who has been in the DRC in the previous 21 days from boarding a flight to the United States.

This is not the only outbreak. A separate Zaire-strain Ebola outbreak in Kasai province, declared on 4 September 2025, killed 45 people before it ended on 1 December 2025. WHO counted 46,800 cholera cases and 1,362 deaths in the first seven months of 2025, and mpox clade Ib, first identified in South Kivu in 2023, still spreads in communities, though WHO lifted its mpox emergency on 5 September 2025.

War in the east

The 2026 Global Peace IndexGlobal Peace IndexAn annual ranking of 163 countries by how peaceful they are, based on conflict, crime, militarisation and political instability.More in the glossary ranks the DRC 161st of 163 and says more than seven million people are displaced inside the country. The FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary says the M23 armed group and Rwanda Defence Forces captured Goma, the capital of North Kivu, in January 2025 and Bukavu in South Kivu the following month. The DRC and Rwanda signed the Washington Accords in December 2025, and Kinshasa and M23 signed the Doha peace framework a month earlier, but UN News reported at the end of September 2026 that clashes continue. The DRC alleges more than 300 people were killed in June and July 2026 in areas held by Rwandan forces and M23; Rwanda rejects the claims.

M23 is not the only armed group. The ADF, which has links to Islamic State, regularly attacks villages, markets, churches and road convoys in North Kivu and Ituri, and fighting in the east forced thousands from a displacement camp in September 2026. Goma and Bukavu airports have no commercial flights. Drone attacks, claimed by M23, have hit the area around Kisangani airport in Tshopo province, and the UK advises against all but essential travel there. The UK also advises against all travel to Kwamouth territory in Mai-Ndombe, where land disputes between communities turned violent, and within 50 km of the Central African Republic border.

Protests can flare in Kinshasa too. On 28 January 2025 crowds attacked several embassies over the fighting in the east, and the FCDO says protests can turn violent with little warning.

Crime in Kinshasa and other cities

The FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary says foreigners are at particular risk of street robbery in Kinshasa and Lubumbashi, especially near central hotels and supermarkets. Typical tricks include children used as a distraction, cut-price gold or diamond offers, and criminals posing as police who detain foreigners until they pay. Express kidnaps, where victims are driven to cash machines, happen too, and the Limete area of Kinshasa has seen kidnappings. People posing as taxi drivers or passengers rob riders, often under threat of violence.

Roads, rivers and health care

WHO estimatesWHO road-death estimateThe World Health Organization's estimate of road traffic deaths per 100,000 people in a country, adjusted for deaths that police statistics miss.More in the glossary 16.3 road deaths per 100,000 people in 2021, less than half the 34.9 of its older 2019 series; with no national count, the true rate is very uncertain. Most roads are unpaved and many are impassable in the rains. Security forces set up roadblocks after dark; stay in the car and show documents through a closed window. River boats and ferries are often overloaded, and every Congolese airline is on the UK Air Safety ListEU Air Safety ListThe European Commission's list of airlines banned or restricted from flying in EU airspace because they do not meet international safety standards.More in the glossary.

There is no national ambulance number. The FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary says Western-standard care is almost non-existent outside Kinshasa, and serious cases need evacuation, usually to South Africa. Yellow fever vaccination is required to enter.

How to stay safe if you must go

• Stay out of the eastern provinces the FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary lists, and do not plan on crossing between Goma or Bukavu and Rwanda.
• Avoid health facilities and funerals in Ebola-affected areas unless you work in the response, and do not touch bushmeat.
• In Kinshasa, use hotel-arranged drivers, never hail taxis and keep valuables out of sight.
• Buy insurance that covers medical evacuation, and check flight rules: you cannot fly to the US within 21 days of leaving the DRC.

How we scored it

Health (8) and conflict (10) are the weakest factors, followed by petty crime (25). Violent crime (40) sits at the floor of the band for WHO's modelled homicide rateHomicide rateThe number of people killed on purpose each year for every 100,000 residents. It is the most comparable crime figure between countries.More in the glossary of 12.4 per 100,000, because kidnapping and armed robbery are common. Road safety (51) and natural hazards (50) score highest; roads use WHO's 2021 estimate, which is much lower than its 2019 one. Confidence is low: there is no UNODC homicide figure, the two WHO road estimates disagree, and much of the crime picture rests on government advisories. The weighted average is 31; our cap of conflict plus 35 (45) does not bind.