When considering traveling somewhere for any length of time, it is crucial to be aware of the level of safety in the place that you are going to. The Economist has recently come out with the 2015 safe cities index so that people would know where they can and cannot feel safe.
Link to index: https://safecities.economist.com/whitepapers/safe-cities-index-white-paper/
The index focuses on fifty cities worldwide based on regional representation and the availability of data and ranks them from most safe to least safe measured by digital security, infrastructure safety, health security, and personal safety.
It is quite ironic that the number one safest city in the world is also the number one most populous city in the world, Tokyo, Japan, which has 38 million residents. The top three cities in the index are all within Asia, number two being Singapore, and number three, Osaka, Japan.
Within Europe the safest city is Stockholm, Sweden ranked at number four and right after that is Amsterdam, Netherlands coming in at number five. Apparently legal marijuana and prostitution have little effect on the overall safety of a city.
Australia takes hold of places number six for the largest city, Sydney, and number nine for Melbourne, which is rated the world's friendliest city. While Zurich, Switzerland and Toronto, Canada slide in between them.
The U.S. cities that were included in this index listed from most safe to least safe are New York City, San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington DC. New York City was the only one to make it into the top ten safest cities (barely) at number 10.
The six lowest ranking cities are:
45. Mexico City, Mexico
46. Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
47. Johannesburg, South Africa
48. Ho Minh Chi City, Vietnam
49. Tehran, Iran
50. Jakarta, Indonesia
The index is not attempting to sway people from going to these bottom-rated cities. The information at the beginning of the index even reads, "it should not be considered a comprehensive list of the world's safest cities (ie, a city coming number 50 in the list does not make it the most perilous place to live in the world)," but it is just something to keep in mind while planning your future travels.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
