DUBAI: Arab cities are the safest places to live in the Asia, Africa and the world, according to the website Numbeo, which analysis data on crime and safety statistics and people’s perceptions.
The list, which is based on the latest information, provides two sets of numbers for the 334 cities listed, a score for crime levels and another for safety.
Abu Dhabi was rated the safest country and for the lowest crime level, both in Asia and the world, while Tunisia came top for safety and low crime in Africa.
The figures are created from a series of surveys and research that look at statistics from countries, but also people’s perceptions of crime and safety.
“(The) Crime Index is an estimation of overall level of crime in a given city or a country,” the Numbeo website explains.
“We consider crime levels lower than 20 as very low, crime levels between 20 and 40 as being low, crime levels between 40 and 60 as being moderate, crime levels between 60 and 80 as being high and finally crime levels higher than 80 as being very high.”
The Safety Index is scored the other way, with the higher number indicating a safer city.
Abu Dhabi scored 13.22 for crime and 86.78 for safety. In contrast San Pedro Sula, in Honduras, scored 84.25 for crime and 15.75 for safety.
While these figures put Abu Dhabi at the top for low crime and safety both in Asia and globally, Dhaka in Bangladesh scored 69.92 for crime and 30.08 for safety.
| City | Crime | Safety |
| Abu Dhabi, UAE | 13.54 | 86.46 |
| Doha, Qatar | 15.87 | 84.13 |
| Singapore | 16.90 | 83.10 |
| Taipei, Taiwan | 17.38 | 82.62 |
| Tokyo, Japan | 19.38 | 80.62 |
| Dubai, UAE | 19.52 | 80.48 |
| Hong Kong | 20.07 | 79.93 |
| Osaka, Japan | 20.13 | 79.87 |
| Tbilisi, Georgia | 20.37 | 79.63 |
| Bursa, Turkey | 21.12 | 78.88 |
Perhaps surprising was Kuala Lumpur which had the second worst crime levels of the 91 countries listed for Asia, at 68.53 and 31.47 for safety. Baghdad, in Iraq came 16 with a crime figure of 57.47 and safety scoring 42.53.
Doha came a close second after the UAE capital, scoring 15.71 for crime and 84.29 for safety.
Dubai came in at 331 in the world list and 83 – just five places behind Abu Dhabi – for Asia, with a crime number of 19.52 and 80.48 for safety.
| City | Crime | Safety |
| Tunis, Tunisia | 36.11 | 63.89 |
| Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | 44.46 | 55.54 |
| Algiers, Algeria | 49.99 | 50.01 |
| Harare, Zimbabwe | 51.98 | 48.02 |
| Casablanca, Morocco | 53.24 | 46.76 |
| Cairo, Egypt | 55.96 | 44.04 |
| Tripoli, Libya | 58.06 | 41.94 |
| Nairobi, Kenya | 63.03 | 36.97 |
| Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania | 65.80 | 34.20 |
| Lagos, Nigeria | 68.08 | 31.92 |
Meanwhile Tunis in Tunisia had the lowest crime level for Africa with 36.15 and the highest for safety with 63.85. This was in contrast with Pietermaritzburg with crime at 82.09 and 17.91 for safety.
What the researchers do concede is that a high crime level score can indicate a greater level of reported incidents than other places that score lower rather than a higher crime level.
