The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has recently released its annual Index that features and ranks the safest major cities across the globe. Tokyo, the world’s most populous city, reigns at the top of the said Index, performing most strongly in the category of digital security. The sovereign city-state of Singapore lands the second spot for safest cities in the world followed by another Japanese city, Osaka.
Sponsored by NEC, EIU conducts researches and studies focused on 50 major cities across the globe. EIU’s research and analysis are supported and supplemented with field experts’ research and interviews. The selection is based on data availability and regional representation hence, results should not be considered as all-inclusive. For example, the city that lands at the bottom of the Index doesn’t necessarily equate to it being the dangerous city in the world.
The Safe Cities Index 2015 is not solely based on a city’s crime rate. In fact, EIU looked at different facets of security and each city is scored based on a number of qualitative and quantitative indicators that fall under health security, digital security, infrastructure, and personal safety.
Health security is measured by looking at the populace’s life expectancy as well as the proportion of hospital beds to the city’s population size. Digital security is measured by assessing the factors revolving around digital security such as quality of online security, number of cases relating to identity theft, and such. Infrastructure security is measured by reviewing the quality of city roads. Lastly, personal safety is measured by evaluating crime rate in a city and police engagement.
According to the Index, Singapore has the highest rank in terms of personal safety. The Republic’s government is well known for its stringent enforcement of laws and implementation of penalties for all sorts of crimes committed, including petty offenses. While the Index acknowledged that the local police was able to maintain a low rate of traditional crimes like theft, burglary, and assault for decades, there is a visible incline in offenses committed online such as e-mail scams. Despite this, Singapore has been ranked second in the category of digital security. The government is currently working on a Monitoring and Operations Control Centre that would equip its local police to fight against cybercrime and further strengthen digital security.
In order, the following are the top 20 safest cities in the world: Tokyo, Singapore, Osaka, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Sydney, Zurich, Toronto, Melbourne, New York, Hong Kong, San Francisco, Taipei, Montreal, Barcelona, Chicago, Los Angeles, London, Washington, and lastly, Frankfurt.
