World's Safest Cities for 2019 Unveiled

Image: The world-famous Shibuya Crossing intersection in Tokyo, Japan. (photo by Scott Hartbeck)
Image: The world-famous Shibuya Crossing intersection in Tokyo, Japan. (photo by Scott Hartbeck)
Patrick Clarke
by Patrick Clarke
Last updated: 12:11 PM ET, Thu August 29, 2019

Tokyo remains the world's safest city, according to The Economist Intelligence Unit's 2019 Safe Cities Index (SCI) ranking 60 destinations across the world based on digital security, health security, infrastructure and personal safety.

The Japanese capital earned a score of 92 out of a possible 100 and is followed by Singapore, Osaka, Amsterdam and Sydney in the top five.

Seventh-ranked Washington, D.C. was the only U.S. city to make the SCI top 10, with Chicago finishing just outside in 11th. Elsewhere in North America, Toronto placed sixth overall while Copenhagen and Seoul tied for eighth and Melbourne rounded out the top 10.

San Francisco (13th), New York (15th) and Los Angeles (17th) also cracked the top 20.

On the other end of the spectrum, Lagos, Nigeria ranked last in 60th with a score of just 38.1. This year's bottom five also includes Caracas, Venezuela; Yangon, Myanmar; Karachi, Pakistan and Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Interestingly, the top 24 cities are separated by only 10 points while the bottom 36 are more than 40 points apart.

Hong Kong was among the biggest losers in 2019's index, landing at 20th amid at-times violent anti-government protests that have spilled into Hong Kong International Airport and prompted an updated travel advisory from the U.S. State Department.

The Economist Intelligence Unit reports that more than 56 percent of the world's population lives in cities and that figure will climb to 68 percent by 2050.


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Patrick Clarke

Patrick Clarke

Senior Editor

A Maryland native and wanderer who has lived across the U.S. from North Carolina to SoCal, Patrick Clarke graduated from Towson University with a B.S. in journalism. He previously worked for Bleacher

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