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[globalnomad2]

Here is a summary of the Mercer Safety survey, ranking the safety of 215 cities around the world. Luxembourg ranks #1 in it. Dubai places at #47, while Chicago, Houston, San Francisco and Birmingham (UK) all tie at #53. London occupies #69 in this ranking. Most of those who make their living in the UAE will be outraged, no doubt, and how dare someone rank any US cities above London--and in the range of Dubai--for personal safety?! I don't know. It's a respected ranking, as far as I know, and I personally seldom feel paranoid in Houston, and certain stereotypes are 30 years outdated. And you know full well that most nasty things in the Gulf never get reported. Of course, I imagine that if Muscat were included, it would rank very favorably...I guess....

(The numerical values--not the rankings--are based on New York = 100.)

Safety
The survey also identifies those cities with the highest personal safety ranking based on internal stability, crime, effectiveness of law enforcement and relationships with other countries. Luxembourg is top, followed by Bern, Geneva, Helsinki and Zurich, all equally placed at number 2. Chicago, Houston and San Francisco are amongst the safest cities in the US, all ranking at 53. Baghdad (215) is the world�s least safe city along with Kinshasa (214), Karachi (213), Nairobi (212) and Bangui (211). Luxembourg scores 131.4 on the index while Baghdad scores 3.8.

In terms of personal safety, Canadian cities perform best with Calgary, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver all ranked jointly at 22. In the US, Chicago, Honolulu, Houston, Lexington, San Francisco and Winston-Salem all share rank 53. Elsewhere in the region, Santo Domingo has the highest ranking at 92 followed by Panama City (96) and Monterrey (99). Bogota (207) in Colombia has the lowest levels of personal safety. The Canadian cities score 115.8 compared to Bogota�s 30.4.

Slagin Parakatil, senior researcher at Mercer, said that personal safety within Canadian cities ranked among the highest in the region. This was due to a relatively low crime rate and a stable political environment. In contrast, many of the Latin American cities such as Caracas, Bogot� or Port au Prince continued to be undermined by crime and political and economic turmoil. Traffic congestion and pollution have also had an impact.

The rankings of Bern, Geneva and Zurich, all at 2, confirm Switzerland�s position as one of the safest countries in Europe. According to the index, Luxembourg, the European city with the highest level of personal safety, scores 131.4. This is in stark contrast with Moscow, the European city scoring the lowest at 37.7 (196). In the UK, Glasgow (43) and Birmingham (53) rank safer than London (69).

For personal safety, apart from Baghdad, Kinshasa is the worst location, ranked 214, and Nairobi (212). Lagos and Port Harcourt rank equally at 209. Jerusalem and Beirut both rank 199 and Harare, 184. Abu Dhabi (33) is the region�s best city for personal safety, followed by Dubai (47), Port Louis (60). Lusaka and Manama rank equally at (118). According to the personal safety index, Abu Dhabi scores 112 against Baghdad�s 3.8.

For personal safety, Pakistan is one of the lowest-scoring destinations with Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore ranked 213, 203 and 192 respectively. Colombo in Sri Lanka appears at 204 while Dhaka (201), Jakarta (189) and Manila (178) are amongst the region�s cities scoring lowest on personal safety. Singapore is the region�s best location for personal safety, scoring 120.2 compared to Karachi�s 25.3.

[Longton]

As a Brit, I am not at all surprised that US cities rank higher than London. There are regular stabbing murders. Two Frenchmen were tortured and murdered in London earlier this month. Especially at weekends, drunken yobs roam the streets and behave in intimidating and threatening ways. Terrorists bombed the underground in 2005. Lots of people have been arrested and imprisoned for terrorism related offences in London.