Yangon in Myanmar
has emerged as the “least safe” city in the world, according to the biennial ‘Safe
Cities’ index published by the Economist’s Intelligence Unit which “ranks 60
cities across 76 indicators covering digital, health, infrastructure, personal
and environmental security”. The city of Yangon was determined the last in
digital security, 58th in health, infrastructure security and personal security
and 54th in environmental security.

The five other
least-safe cities, according to the Safe Cities index, were Karachi, Pakistan,
Caracas, Venezuela, Cairo, Egypt, and Lagos. The 2021 Safe Cities report takes
into account the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on urban spaces. “COVID-19 has
impacted all aspects of urban safety,” said Pratima Singh, project director of
EIU’s Safe Cities Index, told CNBC. 

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COVID-19 significantly
tested health infrastructure of cities. Many cities saw absolute breakdown of their
health infrastructure, which could have accounted for some of the cities
ranking towards the bottom of the list. Further, the pandemic also brought
about a surge in people working from home and settling in the suburbs.

Further,
work from home practices also led to increased concerns around digital
security. Crime patterns with regard to personal security changed due to the
lockdown orders worldwide.

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The safest
cities in the world according to the Safe Cities Index are: Copenhagen in
Denmark, Toronto in Canada, Singapore, Sydney in Australia and Tokyo in Japan.
The first city in the United States to appear on the overall Safe Cities Index.
Two Indian cities — New Delhi and Mumbai — feature among the top 50 out of the
60 cities considered for the list.   

The cities
were ranked on a scale of 1 to 100, with higher scores indicating safer cities.
Copenhagen, which topped the list, scored 82.4 points out of 100; Toronto, on
the second spot, scored 82.2 points, Singapore came on third with 80.7 points,
Sydney emerged as the fourth safest city in the world with 80.1 points and
Tokyo the fifth with 80.