UAE ranked among safest countries in global crime report
The UAE has outranked Japan and Switzerland as one of the world’s safety countries.
Numbeo listed the country in third place, with Qatar in first and Taiwan in second.
Georgia and Oman — two of the most popular holiday destinations for UAE travellers — were fourth and fifth followed by Hong Kong and Slovenia. Isle Of Man, Switzerland and Japan rounded up the top ten.
The Emirates previously scored in the top countries for safety, and Numbeo has listed Abu Dhabi as the safest city in the world since 2017.
The top 10 safest countries, as at July 2020 are:
Qatar
Taiwan
UAE
Georgia
Oman
Hong Kong
Slovenia
Isle of Man
Switzerland
Japan
The crowd-sourced global data website published its half-year findings for 2020 this week. It provides twice annual snapshots of the safest cities and countries, along with measuring the cost of living.
It measures countries using a 'crime index' and a 'safety index'.
"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," Numbeo said.
The safety index is the opposite of the crime index. “If the city has a high safety index, it is considered very safe," the website said.
The UAE's crime index was 15.4 and its safety index was 84.5, meaning the average resident feels very safe.
The UAE was third on the list and scored particularly high for personal safety, with residents feeling the threat of theft, violence or drug problems was very low.
According to the report, the least safe countries are:
Venezuela
Papua New Guinea
South Africa
Afghanistan
Honduras
Trinidad And Tobago
Brazil
Guyana
El Salvador
Syria
The bottom of the charts was dominated by war zones and several Central American countries, where gun crime and kidnapping is rampant. At the bottom of the rankings was Venezuela, once the wealthiest country in South America, which has been beset by political turmoil and hyperinflation. Murder and kidnappings have risen sharply in recent years and it is regarded as particularly dangerous for foreign travellers and investors.
It was ranked 84.36 for crime and 15.64 for safety, meaning the average resident feels extremely vulnerable to crime.
Papua New Guinea, South Africa, Afghanistan and Honduras were next on the list.
Trinidad and Tobago, Brazil, Guyana, El Salvador and Syria comprised the bottom 10.