Kenya was ranked high among the world's unsafe countries to travel to in 2023 by a report from the Expatriate Group, a company offering travel guidance to expats.
The state was ranked in the bottom half and took position 120 out of 190 countries sampled globally.
In Africa, Kenya also underperformed after emerging at position 30 and was behind Rwanda and Tanzania in the East African Community (EAC).
“Using the Global Peace Index, we looked into the safest and least safe countries that feature on the ranking, taking into account their political situation and risk of crime for travellers,” the report revealed how they settled on the ranking.
Putting into consideration the political tension in Kenya, the group revealed that tourists travelling to the region should have an insurance scheme.
Mauritius was ranked the safest country in Africa and position 28 globally.
“Mauritius has a low crime rate and violent crime in Mauritius is extremely rare. It is also generally safe for women but common sense should be used, as in any location,” the report indicated.
Other countries in Africa that were considered safe included; Ghana, Gambia, Botswana and Sierra Leone. Globally, the countries were ranked 40, 45, 48, and 50 respectively.
Notably, there was no East African Country that made it to the top five safe countries in Africa.
In East Africa, the safest country was Rwanda taking position 11 in Africa and 70 globally while Uganda was ranked one position behind Kenya in Africa as well as globally.
Ranking for other East African Countries were; Tanzania (18 in Africa and 86 globally), Burundi (49 in Africa and 131 globally), Democratic Republic of Congo (49 in Africa and 158 globally) and South Sudan (50 in Africa and 159 globally).
The ranking showed that there was high insecurity in East Africa than in any other region in Africa.
For DRC, the report indicated that apart from muggings and kidnappings, there were also cases of authorities arresting foreigners and demanding payment for release.
“Foreigners who are currently in South Sudan are advised to leave as soon as possible,” the report further warned.
