Tokyo’s is one of the world’s largest cities, and it’s also the world’s safest.
That’s according to the Economist Intelligence Unit, which released its Safe Cities Index 2017 findings last week. The study ranked 60 different cities around the world according to 49 different indicators that cover categories such as digital security, health security, infrastructure security, and personal security.
Tokyo took the top spot in 2015, and claimed it again this year, followed by Singapore in second place and Osaka in third; meanwhile, Toronto and Melbourne took the fourth and fifth spots. Rounding out the top ten were – in order – Amsterdam, Sydney, Stockholm, Hong Kong, and Zurich.
In the individual sections, Tokyo scored high marks, taking the highest tally for digital security (which covers issues like cybercrime) and jumping up seven spots in the health security category (which treats subjects like access to adequate healthcare) to second overall, just after Osaka. One downside for Tokyo was a drop in its ranking for infrastructure security, where it dropped to 12th position.
For the category of personal security, which relates to being safe from criminal or terrorist acts, Tokyo came in fourth overall. This category featured five Asian cities in the top 10, and two from Japan (Tokyo and Osaka). Writers of the report suggested that values play an important role for this category. “It’s natural that Asian cities would come up at the top, particularly in Japan – there’s a cultural component to it,” says John Rossant, chairman of the New Cities Foundation, who was interviewed for the report. Cited as a specific example of these values was that fact that last year, Tokyo citizens returned some ¥3.67 billion in lost money, according to the city’s Metropolitan Police Department, and about 75 percent of that money made its way back to the people who lost it.
Overall, urban centers from countries in the developed world dominated the upper half of the index, while cities from developing nations took places in the lower half of the index. Other major cities on the ranking included San Francisco (15th), London (20th), Paris (24th) and Beijing (32nd).
The full Safe Cities 2017 Index report can be viewed here.
