The Safe Cities Index 2021 is a report from The Economist Intelligence Unit which ranks 60 cities across 76 indicators covering digital, health, infrastructure, personal and environmental security. It’s important for Asian countries and their citizens to understand how Asian cities rank versus the best in the world and what they can do to make they urban areas more healthy and secure.

This year as the world is still in the grips of a 20-month long pandemic the findings are more important than ever. According to the repot’s authors, “Covid-19 is the first global pandemic to strike humanity since we became a predominantly urban species. This has enhanced the disease’s opportunities to spread, but also comes at a time when healthcare systems have a greater capacity to respond.”

The Asian cities which usually lead the survey still stand out this year.

“The top of the table changes dramatically– with Copenhagen first overall and Toronto second – but the “first division” remains largely the same. In each of the last three iterations, Tokyo, Singapore and Osaka – always in that order – have been our index leaders. This year Copenhagen comes first, with 82.4 points out of 100, and Toronto follows close behind with 82.2. This change reflects not a tectonic shift but more a reordering among cities that have always come close to the top. In all four editions of our index, six cities – Amsterdam, Melbourne, Tokyo, Toronto, Singapore and Sydney – have all figured among the leading ten, with only a few points separating them. Copenhagen likely would be in this group as well, but has been included since only 2019, when it tied for 8th place”

In looking at the top 25 cities on the list we see that wealthy cities are the safest. This shouldn’t be a surprise as economics has always been tied to providing a safer, healthier, more secure living environment. 

The Safe Cities Index 2021 should inspire cities around the world to work on their digital, health, infrastructure, personal and environmental security. That would help us all.