Abu Dhabi named the safest city in the world

It might not be what you'd excpected, but Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, has been named the safest city in the world.

According to data collected by Numbeo, an online database comparing cities and countries worldwide, Abu Dhabi came out on top with the lowest crime index of just 13.54 in the past six months.

It also had the highest safety index of 86.46 putting it just ahead of Basel in Switzerland, Munic, Germany, and Osaka, Japan. The highest rating Australian city was Canberra which scored a 78, while Townsville and Queensland got a mere 36 point safety rating.

Respondents to the survey also scored the capital at 94 per cent for a general feeling of safety within the city. Meanwhile, among the least safest feeling cities was San Pedro Sula in Honduras, Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea, Caracas in Venezuela and Pietermaritzburg in South Africa.

It comes after Abu Dhabi was named as the second-best city to live, work and do business in last month, overtaking both London and Paris in the most recent Ipsos City Index.

“Abu Dhabi has a solid reputation for safety with a virtually crime-free society. It is a priority when choosing a city to visit or live in and provides peace of mind knowing that you can feel safe anywhere you go in Abu Dhabi," Director General of the Tourism and Culture Authority, H.E. Saif Saeed Ghobash said.

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"The result highlights an aspect of life in Abu Dhabi that is a matter of great pride to all residents.”

The index, which ranked 334 countries globally, is an estimation of overall level of crime in a given city or a country.

Crime levels lower than 20 are considered 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 crime levels higher than 80 as being “very high.”

“The position of Abu Dhabi in this global ranking is a testament to the ongoing efforts to establish the Emirate as a destination of distinction with international standards of safety that are on par with global metropolises," Ghobash continued.

Established in 2009, Numbeo is a collaborative online database which enables users to share and compare information about the cost of living between countries and cities.

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