Botswana, press rank #65 · ~$1,100/mo

Can you live unwatched in Gaborone?

Surveillance, facial recognition and crypto rules read here for the city itself, not the national average.

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The privacy scorecard

The six marked ° below are read for Gaborone itself. The rest are set by Botswana’s national law, the same across every city in the country.

State surveillance °4/5
Facial recognition °5/5
No national ID2/5
Data-protection law2/5
Encryption4/5
VPN freedom5/5
Democracy4/5
Free expression4/5
Cash still works4/5
Financial privacy3/5
Crypto freedom °2/5
Easy to stay °3/5
Off-grid living °5/5
press rank #65 (Botswana) ~$1,100/mo, this city safety 3/5 geopolitical stability 5/5

Childhood vaccines: compulsory by law

Compulsory, well funded and well covered: Botswana is the rare case where the law and the service match.

If you skip them: Fines up to 5.000 pula, and up to twelve months in jail.

Exemptions: Medical only.

Source: Georgetown AMP EID, survey of national legislation, 2024

Legal & financial exposure

Facts about the law, not a privacy score: whether each one helps or hurts depends on what you are trying to do.

Does not report your account balances abroad

No extradition treaty with the US

5 of 7 signals are unverified for this country: not shown, rather than guessed.

See Gaborone against your own threat model

Filter thousands of real places across every country on the same signals, or open the full profile for Botswana.

Not just privacy?

Arcadia matches the same real places against how you actually want to live: weather, cost, healthcare, schools, internet.

Find where to live on Arcadia

City-level figures where marked °, national law otherwise. Estimates for orientation, not legal advice. Surveillance law changes fast: verify anything you would act on.