Chicago Was Just Ranked One Of The Safest Global Cities

By Stephen Gossett in News on Oct 13, 2017 3:40PM

Getty Images / Photo: Tim Boyle

It was only two days ago that President Donald Trump again called Chicago "out of control" with crime (and the city again reminded him about lax gun control in neighboring states). And while the city did in fact surpass the mark of 500 homicides last month, a recent ranking of the safety of 60 global cities—a metric that looks at a variety of safety aspects beyond gun violence—placed Chicago in the Top 20 worldwide and third among American cities.

The 2017 Safe Cities Index, a report from The Economist Intelligence Unit, takes into account four categories: digital security, health security, infrastructure security and personal security. Overall, Chicago ranked the No. 19 safest city.

Chicago fared particularly well in terms of digital security, ranking third overall, behind only Tokyo and Singapore. The city climbed 12 spots over last year's ranking thanks to its showing in the category, researchers noted.

"The city is home to several leading cyber security firms and in January its mayor, Rahm Emanuel, announced the launch of a new cyber security training initiative. Developed by the Department of Defense in partnership with City Colleges of Chicago, the training is designed to increase the supply of professionals able to secure critical computer networks in the public and private sectors," the report states.

Chicago was ranked 27th overall in infrastructure security. No American city made the Top Ten in that category, which ranks the safety of buildings, roads, bridges "and other physical infrastructure." Also, Chicago was not among the bottom rankings in terms of personal security. (Those cities were Jakarta, Tehran, Moscow, Johannesburg, Bogota, Quito, Yangon, Ho Chi Minh City, Caracas and Karachi.) High- and upper-middle-income cities fared best in that metric. "Yet in cities across all regions, youth violence is a problem, particularly in areas where youth unemployment is high," the report states. "The World Bank has identified a group of 'youth at risk' who, because they are exposed to inequality, poverty and exclusion, are prone to, among other things, risky behaviour such as crime, violence and substance use," the report notes.

The top five safest cities overall were Tokyo (1), Singapore (2), Osaka (3), Toronto (4) and Melbourne (5). San Francisco (15) and Los Angeles (18) ranked highest among U.S. cities.

Safe Cities Index 2017 / The Economist Intelligence Unit, NEC

[HT MarketWatch, Crain's]