Asian cities lead the safe cities index, Tokyo on top
Travel Biz News –
Cities in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region make up six of the top ten safest cities with Tokyo taking the top spot for the third time in a row.
The top 10 safest cities are – Tokyo, Singapore, Osaka, Amsterdam, Sydney, Toronto, Washington DC , Seoul , Copenhagen and Melbourne .
The Japanese capital records the strongest performance in the digital security category, and it has also risen eight places in the infrastructure security category since 2017, according to a report released by Economist Intelligence Unit.
The Economist Intelligence Unit released the third edition of the Safe Cities Index (SCI) at the Safe Cities Summit in Singapore. The index, the centre piece of a research project sponsored by NEC Corporation, ranks 60 cities worldwide across five continents.
It measures the multifaceted nature of urban safety, with indicators organised across four pillars: digital, infrastructure, health and personal security.
Along with Tokyo, Singapore and Osaka come second and third, while Sydney and Melbourne also make the top ten. Although Hong Kong has dropped out of this group since 2017, Seoul has joined the top taking eighth place with Copenhagen according to report.
Research shows that the performance of different safety pillars correlates very closely with each other, signifying that different kinds of safety are thoroughly intertwined. The top performers in each pillar are as follows:
Digital security: Tokyo (1), Singapore (2), Chicago (3), Washington, DC, (4), Los Angeles/San Francisco (5)
Health security: Osaka (1), Tokyo (2), Seoul (3), Amsterdam (4), Stockholm (5)
Infrastructure security: Singapore (1), Osaka (2), Barcelona (3), Tokyo (4), Madrid (5)
Personal security: Singapore (1), Copenhagen (2), Hong Kong (3), Tokyo (4), Wellington (5)
The leading cities got the basics right, including easy access to high-quality healthcare, dedicated cyber-security teams, community-based police patrolling and/or disaster continuity planning.
The 60 cities covered in the index are (in order of the overall ranking):
North America: Toronto, Washington, DC, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Dallas.
Latin America: Santiago, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Mexico City, Lima, Quito, Bogota and Caracas.
Europe: Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Stockholm, London, Frankfurt, Zurich, Brussels, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, Milan, Rome, Moscow and Istanbul.
Middle East and Africa: Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Kuwait City, Riyadh, Johannesburg, Casablanca, Baku, Cairo and Lagos.
Asia-Pacific: Tokyo, Singapore, Osaka, Seoul, Sydney, Melbourne, Hong Kong, Taipei, Wellington, Beijing, Shanghai, Kuala Lumpur, Ho Chi Minh City, Manila, Mumbai, Bangkok, New Delhi, Jakarta, Dhaka, Karachi and Yangon.
Image : Imperial Palace , Tokyo / JNTO
August 30, 2019
