WorldRisk

Which passport do you hold?

Risk to a traveller depends on their nationality. A country that sanctions your destination, or is sanctioned by it, changes how you are treated on arrival. Choosing here adjusts every score on the site.

We hold travel advice written for four nationalities so far. Selecting anything else shows the neutral baseline, and every page says so where it applies rather than presenting it as an assessment made for you.

Kept in your browser only. Nothing is sent anywhere, and you can change it at any time from the header.

All countries

Turkmenistan

74High74 of 100, High band, 50 to 74moderate confidence(6/7 dimensions)
What this score means
Extreme75 to 100
Severe and systematic. Device search, interception and detention over online activity are documented rather than theoretical. Reconsider what you carry and what you say.
High50 to 74
Substantial and consistently evidenced measures. Device inspection, monitored networks or restricted services should be expected rather than treated as unlikely.
Caution25 to 49
Some risk, and manageable with precautions. Measures are evidenced but are narrow, inconsistently applied, or the picture is mixed.
Low0 to 24
Ordinary precautions. No systematic device search, network restriction or prosecution of visitors for online speech is evidenced.

Government travel advice is written for one citizenry, so the same country carries a different assessment depending on your passport. Change it in the header.

Showing the baseline, which weights every issuer equally. No government in our corpus publishes travel advice written for you, so this is not addressed to you specifically.

Dimensions

Each dimension is scored independently, because the traveller who cares about legal exposure for what they have posted is often not the one carrying client data. Higher means more risk.

Speech and legal exposure

What legal risk attaches to what I have said online, or say while I am there?

94Extreme94 of 100, Extreme band, 75 to 100

good confidence8 independent sources

Why this score (15 sources)

Report an inaccuracy (corrections need a link to the reporting, statute or research that shows it).

1 excluded source
  • CIVICUS Monitor country updates, observed 2020-07-01: aged out after 6 years.

Surveillance and interception

How comprehensively are communications intercepted, retained, and monitored, and is commercial spyware in use?

83Extreme83 of 100, Extreme band, 75 to 100

good confidence4 independent sources

Why this score (6 sources)

  • Freedom House 2026 scored TKM 0 of 4 on freedom to express personal views on sensitive topics without fear of surveillance or retribution.

    Freedom House, Freedom in the World · observed 2026-01-01

  • V-Dem Digital Society Project 2025 scored TKM 0.60 of 4 on how comprehensively the government monitors social media and private online communication, where higher is freer.

    V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg, Digital Society Project · observed 2025-12-31

  • V-Dem Digital Society Project 2025 scored TKM 0.98 of 4 on how far privacy protection law shields communications from government access, where higher is freer. This measures what privacy law permits rather than what monitoring is practised, so it is read here as a constraint on interception rather than a measurement of it.

    V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg, Digital Society Project · observed 2025-12-31

  • While cheaper VPNs frequently fail, the more expensive, “guaranteed” versions are reportedly supplied directly by security services, enabling both profiteering and surveillance.

    CIVICUS Monitor country updates · observed 2025-12-04 · extracted by language model

  • Hotel rooms, telephones, e-mail and fax machines may be monitored, and personal possessions in hotel rooms may be searched.

    Global Affairs Canada, Travel advice and advisories · observed 2026-10-16 · written for CAN nationals · extracted by language model

  • Although the transition may improve connection stability and speed, the broader context of ongoing restrictions on online freedoms raises concerns that the new system could also facilitate more centralised control and monitoring of internet traffic, thereby tightening censorship further.

    CIVICUS Monitor country updates · observed 2026-06-01 · extracted by language model

Report an inaccuracy (corrections need a link to the reporting, statute or research that shows it).

Encryption and VPN legality

Are VPNs and strong encryption lawful, and can I be required to install an application or hand over keys?

79Extreme79 of 100, Extreme band, 75 to 100

good confidence5 independent sources

Why this score (7 sources)

  • V-Dem Digital Society Project 2025 scored TKM 0.48 of 4 on whether the government regulates the internet in a way consistent with international human rights standards, where higher is freer. This does not establish whether encryption or VPN use is lawful. It measures internet regulation in general, and is used as indirect evidence because the only survey that reads encryption law directly was published in 2019.

    V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg, Digital Society Project · observed 2025-12-31

  • VPNs are illegal in Turkmenistan and are usually blocked as soon as the authorities identify them.

    UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Foreign travel advice · observed 2026-06-04

  • RSF also pointed out that citizens lack access to worldwide information sources on the web and risk a fine if they try to use a VPN to circumvent internet censorship.

    CIVICUS Monitor country updates · observed 2026-06-01 · extracted by language model

  • At the same time, foreign VPNs are aggressively blocked and independent VPN providers are targeted, leaving users with no reliable alternatives.

    CIVICUS Monitor country updates · observed 2025-12-04 · extracted by language model

  • VPNs are illegal in Turkmenistan and are usually blocked as soon as the authorities identify them.

    UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Foreign travel advice · observed 2026-06-04 · written for GBR nationals · extracted by language model

  • Turkmenistan blocks VPN apps, calls offenders for a “talk” at the Ministry of National Security - Kun.uz

    Kun.uz, via a site scoped search · observed 2019-01-21 · extracted by language model

  • Die Nutzung bzw. der Einsatz eines Virtual Private Networks (VPN) ist verboten.

    Our translation: The use or deployment of a Virtual Private Network (VPN) is prohibited.

    Auswärtiges Amt, Reise- und Sicherheitshinweise · observed 2026-10-16 · written for DEU nationals · extracted by language model

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Data jurisdiction

What happens to corporate or client data I carry into the jurisdiction?

71High71 of 100, High band, 50 to 74

moderate confidence1 independent source

Why this score (1 source)

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Connectivity continuity

How likely am I to lose access to the internet, or to the specific tools I depend on?

70High70 of 100, High band, 50 to 74

good confidence8 independent sources

Why this score (28 sources)

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Border device risk

How likely is my device to be searched, imaged, or seized at the border, and can I be compelled to unlock it?

38Caution38 of 100, Caution band, 25 to 49

moderate confidence5 independent sources

No reports were found of devices being searched, imaged or seized at this border, or of travellers being compelled to unlock them. The score below is drawn from general indicators for this country rather than from anything observed about this risk, so it describes an absence of reports rather than evidence that the risk is absent.

What the score rests on (5 indirect sources)

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Network threat

How hostile is the network environment to a foreign visitor, from state actors and criminals alike?

Not assessed

No source currently covers this dimension for this country. That is a gap in our evidence, not a finding that the risk is low.

Trend

02550751002026-08-162026-10-16

The overall score is down 0.5 points over 61 days, from 74.8 to 74.3. Most movement is the event overlay decaying rather than anything happening: a news signal loses half its weight every three weeks, so a score drifts back toward its structural baseline on its own. A step that holds is the one worth reading.

Check this yourself

These are not inputs to the score for Turkmenistan. They are where to look if you want to test what is above against something we did not use.

Sources

This assessment draws on 10 sources: Auswärtiges Amt, Reise- und Sicherheitshinweise; CIVICUS Monitor country updates; Committee to Protect Journalists, via a site scoped search; Freedom House, Freedom in the World; Georgia Tech Internet Intelligence Lab, Internet Outage Detection and Analysis; Global Affairs Canada, Travel advice and advisories; Kun.uz, via a site scoped search; UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Foreign travel advice; US Department of State, Travel Advisories; V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg, Digital Society Project. Every contributing claim is quoted with its origin and date above. Model version 0.12.0, computed 2026-10-16.

If something here is wrong, say so. Corrections are handled in public, and we correct because the evidence is wrong, not because someone objects.