Safe City Index - Singapore ranked 2nd

The Safe Cities Index is a report from The Economist Intelligence Unit. The website provides the Executive summary and Introduction, or about 7 pages of the 44 page downloadable report.

[Update: Safe City Index 2021. Singapore is third now. In "Environment Security, Singapore is ranked 37th with a score of 69.9. I guess Singapore is too hot.]


Excerpts from the summary/introduction:

The results of the 2017 Safe Cities Index, which now covers 60 cities, again show a sharp divide in overall levels of safety between the fast urbanising developing world and the stagnant developed world. The top three cities in the index are unchanged from 2015, with Tokyo, Singapore and Osaka ranked first, second and third and still separated by mere tenths of a point. Likewise, the remainder of the top ten continues to be comprised of mainly Asian and European cities.

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In general, while the Safe Cities Index measures relative rather than absolute safety, there does not appear to have been a vast improvement in overall levels of safety since 2015. In parts of the developed world, particularly Europe, a series of terrorist attacks has affected personal security. At the same time, city governments in the developing world are still struggling to keep pace with the rapid expansion of their populaces, which is straining infrastructure and overwhelming health services and law enforcement, the extent to which it is even present. 

I am not going to do what I did for the McKinsey Report on Transportation, and extract the gist (and the juice) from this report. If you have no time, read the Executive Summary. If you are more interested, download and read the report.

For the top three cities, I don't see that there are any perceivable difference. I have been to Tokyo and Osaka and I do not feel more or less safe, so for me, I do not think that there is much to choose between those three.

It is also why I like to go to Japan with my kid for holidays. When you live in one of the safest countries in the world, every other place you go to for holiday, would mean an increase in risk. I'm a good parent. Why should I expose my kid to increased danger right? So Japan. 

BUT... there is an upcoming trip to KL. Well, Putrajaya actually, but that's considered part of KL. And KL is ranked... 31st with 73 points. Singapore is 89, almost 90 points!!!

The ASEAN capitals ranked:

• Singapore              - 2nd
• Kuala Lumpur      - 31st
• Bangkok               - 49th
• Manila                  - 55th
• Ho Chi Minh City - 56th (as a stand in for Hanoi)
• Jakarta                   - 57th
• Yangon                  - 59th

The other capitals (Phnom Penh, Bandar Seri Begawan, and Vientiane) were not covered. And actually Hanoi was not covered either, so HCMC was used as a stand in.

I've been to 6 of the top 10 cities ranked and I do not find perceivable difference in safety. 

Perhaps one needs to go to those rank below 20 to perceive any lower safety. I've been to KL. I am more cautious, but I cannot pin down any specifics as to why I feel less safe. Maybe it's my innate racism.

I've been to Taipei, 9 points behind SG, ranked 22nd, and I am a little uneasy, but not feeling unsafe. I may be feeling uneasy because my Mandarin is not very good.

I've been to Bangkok, almost 30 points behind SG, ranked 49th. Again I am not completely at ease. I do feel a little vulnerable, but that may be fear of being fleeced as a tourist. But the upshot is, I don't really plan holidays in Bangkok.

I have not been to the last 4 ranked ASEAN cities so I cannot comment on them.