List Of World’s Safe Cities Is Out And ONLY 2 Indian Cities Have Made It!

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you go?

This question is as fascinating to discuss as it is terrifying. Almost every part of the world is plagued with some or the other issue, be it drought, famine, soaring temperatures, freezing temperatures or earthquakes. And then of course, there’s the socio-economic situation to think about: Does it have a good education system? Will I have a good standard of life? Will the people accept me for who I am? How safe is it?

The answers to quite a few of these questions could be found in the Safe Cities Index. And guess what? The 2017 edition is out!

The Safe Cities Index is a report that analyses urban safety on four main parameters: digital security, health security, infrastructure security, and personal security.

These four parameters are further divided into 49 indicators of urban safety. This year, the Index has added 10 new cities to its list, bringing the grand total up to 60. The new cities added include Karachi, Yangon and Dhaka.

But here’s what we should be concerned with. Forget ranking in the top 10, not a single Indian city has ranked even in the top 40!

The only two Indian cities to feature in the Index are Delhi and Mumbai, somewhere down below in the 40s.

Apart from the obvious Western cities that you’d expect in the top rung, we’ve been overtaken by a few Middle-Eastern cities too.

And now for the statistic that’s the icing on the cake. In an absolute shocker, Delhi, the alleged ‘rape capital’ of India, has ranked above Mumbai on the Index!

We absolutely cannot fathom how this feat has been made possible but here it is for you to see. Delhi ranks 43rd, while Mumbai comes a close 45th.

While the difference may be negligible, the fact is that the Index says Delhi is marginally safer than Mumbai!

We aren’t the only nation snubbed by the list. Apparently, no American city features in the top 10 either, with San Francisco being the safest US city at number 15.

The Index was last released in 2015, and the top 3 positions have seen no change since then; this year too, they’re occupied by Tokyo, Singapore and Osaka. The top ten list continues to be comprised of Asian and European cities.

However, Jakarta, which ranked last in the 2015 Index has been boosted up to 57th position this year. The last rank has been taken up by new entrant Karachi.

Now we might shrug it off as just another statistic or say that we aren’t surprised. But you do feel that pinch somewhere, don’t you?

Safety and security is one of the fundamental guarantees that the country you live in should provide you. And the numbers for India don’t look promising at all. Should we then just dismiss our fears and learn to live with them? Or should we seek to better our situation? Do we want to feel SAFE in our country?

Either way, we’ve got some strong competition before us, 42 cities worth of strong competition. That’s one difficult list to climb! Good luck, India!