Singapore ranked second-safest country in study (EIU’s Safe Cities Index 2015)

Straits Times: S'pore No. 2 on Safe Cities Index

Published on Jan 29, 2015

SINGAPORE is the world's second safest city, after Tokyo and ahead of Osaka, according to a report by the Economist Intelligence Unit that looks at urban security.

The Safe Cities Index, with a focus on 50 cities worldwide, looked at more than 40 qualitative and quantitative indicators spread across four categories: digital security, health security, infrastructure safety and personal safety.

The findings show that safety is closely linked to wealth and economic development, with cities in developed markets tending to fall in the top half of the list, while those in developing markets appear in the bottom half.

In Asia, rich cities occupy the top three positions, while poorer neighbours Ho Chi Minh City and Jakarta fill two of the bottom three positions.

However, ample resources are no guarantee of urban safety, with only one of four high-income Middle Eastern cities surveyed - Abu Dhabi - making it to the top half of the index at 25.

Singapore does well in personal safety, coming in tops in a category that other Asian cities also do well in, with Osaka (2), Tokyo (3), Hong Kong (5) and Taipei (6) in the top 10. This category looks at how secure individuals are from theft and violence.

The Republic also ranks high on digital security, which looks at resources spent on ensuring that citizens can use the Internet and other digital technologies without fear of privacy violations or identity theft. It is second behind Tokyo and ahead of New York (3), Hong Kong (4) and Osaka (5).

But it does poorly in health security, ranking outside the top 10 at No. 12, in a category dominated by high- and upper-middle income cities.

While it is joint first for its quality of health services, it does badly for the number of hospital beds and doctors per 1,000 people. It is seventh in the infrastructure safety category.