Tokyo ranks as world's safest city, Hong Kong falls to 20th

LONDON -- Tokyo was named the world's safest city for the third time in a row, while Hong Kong plummeted to the 20th place, said a report by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

Overall, six Asia-Pacific cities are among the top ten, but geographic region does not have a statistical link with results, according to the EIU's 2019 Safe Cities index released on Thursday.

The index ranks 60 cities across 57 indicators covering digital security, health security, infrastructure security and personal security.

Other cities in the top ten include Singapore, Osaka, Amsterdam, Sydney, Toronto and Washington.

Singapore was the best performer in infrastructure and personal security, but Tokyo and Osaka were the front runners in digital and health security respectively.

Hong Kong, on the other hand, plummeted to 20th after ranking 11th in 2015 and 9th in 2017.

Urban management will play a fundamental role in defining the quality of life of most human beings in the coming years. A key element of this will be the ability of cities to provide security for their residents, businesses and visitors, the report said.

The results in individual index pillars show the importance of getting the basics right. A look at the top five cities in each pillar yields a similar message.

"In each area, leading cities got the basics right, be it easy access to high-quality healthcare, dedicated cyber-security teams, community-based police patrolling or disaster continuity planning," researchers said.

Tokyo, Singapore and Osaka lead because of their specific strengths, not because they happen to be in Asia.

"The research highlights how different types of safety are thoroughly intertwined ... it is rare to find a city with very good results in one safety pillar and lagging in others," said Naka Kondo, senior editor of the EIU.

At the other end of the spectrum, Lagos, Caracas, Yangon, Karachi and Dhaka were the five least safe cities, according to the index.