Asian cities rank top and bottom of safe cities index, new definition of urban safety includes online environment, New York makes it into top 10, ahead of London, Paris, Madrid and Rome and wealth is no guarantee of safety.

Tokyo is ranked the safest world city in a new index from The Economist Intelligence Unit, just ahead of Singapore and Osaka.

The Safe Cities Index 2015, sponsored by NEC, ranks 50 cities worldwide across five continents (see full list below). Ho Chi Minh City, Tehran and Jakarta occupy the bottom three positions in the Index.

The Index introduces a new definition of urban safety. Every city’s ranking is based on an average score across four categories: digital security, health security, infrastructure safety and personal safety. Tokyo’s highest score is for digital security. Its lowest score is for health security, although it still ranks in the top 10.

James Chambers, editor of the report, said, “It is time to update our traditional understanding of a safe city. The risks today continue to multiply as everything is becoming connected and the online and offline environments converge. This tool is meant to assist city leaders to make an honest and comprehensive assessment of this complex urban environment.”

New York is the only US city to make it into the overall top 10. Nonetheless, the five US cities in the Index tend to perform better than Europe’s major capitals, such as London, Madrid, Paris and Rome, owing to comparatively high scores for digital security.

Cities in developed countries dominate the top half of the Index, while developing world cities tend to fill the bottom 25 positions; although there are notable exceptions. Abu Dhabi is the only wealthy Middle Eastern city to make it into the top half. Meanwhile, Rome and Milan, Italy’s capital and commercial capital respectively, are the only two European or North American cities to feature in the bottom half of the Index. 

Visit the Safe Cities Hub on economist.com to view the Index and download the white paper.