Highlights
Gallup Ranks 141 countries as to perceptions of law enforcement and personal safety.
Where does the US Rank? Some suggest that the US is among the most dangerous countries. Is that true?
Author
Leonard Adam Sipes, Jr.
Retired federal senior spokesperson. Thirty-five years of directing award-winning public relations (and explaining crime data) for national and state criminal justice agencies. Interviewed multiple times by every national news outlet. Former Senior Specialist for Crime Prevention for the Department of Justice’s clearinghouse. Former Director of Information Services, National Crime Prevention Council. Former Adjunct Associate Professor of Criminology and Public affairs-University of Maryland, University College. Former advisor to presidential and gubernatorial campaigns. Former advisor to the “McGruff-Take a Bite Out of Crime” national media campaign. Certificate of Advanced Study-Johns Hopkins University. Former police officer. Aspiring drummer.
Author of ”Success With The Media: Everything You Need To Survive Reporters and Your Organization” available at Amazon and additional booksellers.
Quotes
All quotes are edited for brevity.
Note
The 2023 report is available here.
Article
I get inquiries about the safest and most dangerous countries (along with the safest or most dangerous US cities or states). People want to check their vacation destinations or have concerns about moving to another country.
The data for this article is based on surveys of citizens by Gallup’s “Global Law And Order Index” 2023 asking about perceptions of crime, safety, and evaluations of law enforcement.
Gallup’s Global Law and Order Report Methodology
Results are based on nationally representative, probability-based samples among the adult populations, aged 15 and older, in 141 countries and territories throughout 2022.
The 2022 results are based on telephone or face-to-face surveys of approximately 1,000 or more respondents. The global estimate includes 2021 data from China.
Context
It’s obvious that there are parts of cities or sections or states or foreign countries that are perfectly safe. A country can have a crime problem yet the resort you stay in can be guarded and safe. However, most judicial systems require a victim’s testimony for a trial so it’s obvious that criminals look for foreign tourists who are unlikely to return.
Traveling To Other Countries
It’s also obvious that there are people in the United States who see the country as having a persistent or uncontrollable crime problem yet, according to the data below, the US ranks 42nd out of a survey of 141 countries.
Even this assessment is problematic based on the complexity of the United States geographically and demographically.
There are nine countries having the same score as the US and eight scoring one or two points better. Australia, Canada, Greece, Poland, and the UK have similar rankings. But would I avoid any of these countries when I travel? Of course not.
But I am going to think twice before visiting South Africa or Liberia or Bolivia or Peru or Ecuador (some of the lowest-ranking countries). I will also be cautious of Central America, South America, and parts of Africa.
Canada?
According to the report, “Perceptions of safety declined most in Canada, where the index score dropped four points in 2022 to a new low of 83 — matching the score for the U.S., which remained stagnant from the previous year.”
“Although most Canadians continue to trust their local police (78%) and feel safe walking alone at night (74%), both measures dropped to new lows in 2022. The public’s faith has eroded as violent crime keeps rising in Canada, where the murder rate in 2022 was the highest in 30 years.”
But when you understand that most violent crime involves people known to the victim, I would not hesitate to travel to Canada.
Feeling Safe
Roughly seven in 10 people worldwide said in 2022 that they feel safe walking alone at night where they live (71%) and have confidence in their local police (72%). About one in eight (12%) said they had property stolen from them or another household member in the past year, and one in 16 (6%) said they were assaulted or mugged.
Perceptions Of Law Enforcement
North America continues to hold better scores of law enforcement that most regions only exceeded by Southeast Asia, South Asia (big increase in their score), and Western Europe. I assume that declines in North America have something to do with rising Canadian and US crime (a 44 percent increase in violent crime) and the immense negative media coverage over police use of force issues in the US. However, there is a slight improvement in 2022.
Chart
Law And Order Scores By Country
141 countries were surveyed with the United States ranking 42nd.
Many of the countries scoring better than the US are rather small in population: Switzerland, Iceland, Taiwan, Finland, Luxemburg, Norway, Vietnam, Denmark, Slovenia, Hong Kong, Israel, South Korea, Belgium, El Salvador, Croatia, Egypt, Portugal, Georgia, Philippines, Armenia, United Arab Emirates and others score better “but” do not have the population or the diversity of the US.
It’s like ranking South Dakota against world figures as to crime and safety.
Granted, there are large or diverse countries like Germany, Spain, Austria, France, and Italy that do score better than the US but I’m guessing that there are regions of the US (i.e., New England-western states) that have a larger land mass and would score better than the countries mentioned.
State Control
There are differences in the politics of many countries and the amount of state control. “In most economically developed countries and territories with strong rule of law, high majorities of residents say they feel safe walking alone in their areas at night.”
“ The same is true in countries where populations are under tighter state control. For example, these feelings were nearly universal in 2022 in countries such as Kuwait (96%), Singapore (95%), Tajikistan (93%), United Arab Emirates (91%) and Saudi Arabia (90%).”
“Notably missing from the least safe list is Afghanistan, where a record-high 52% of residents in 2022 said they felt safe walking alone at night where they live. Most of the increase was attributable to more men feeling safe (65%) — while 39% of women said the same.”
People ask how the US could become a safer country but Afghanistan’s state and religious controls (along with other countries) are obviously not the answer.
The US pays a price for its Constitutionally protected freedoms. Our lack of citizen controls (i.e., free press, free speech, free assembly, firearm possession, religious diversity, strict court-based rules as to police behavior, 18,000 police agencies instead of one national police force) purposely lessen government control.
Conclusions
So in a fair comparison of countries with larger populations that are not under an excessive amount of state control and have a complex population base, the United States would score much higher than 42nd out of a survey of 141 countries.
If you include only larger, diverse societies that are not under “tighter state control,” per the poll, only Germany, Spain, Italy, and Austria score better than the United States. The US is tied with Canada, Greece, Poland, the UK and Australia.
I understand that America has a crime problem with a 44 percent increase in violent crime per the latest National Crime Victimization Survey and record fear of crime but per citizen rankings, one could argue that we are one of the world’s safest among large and diverse countries and that respondents rank Northern American law enforcement highly only exceeded by Southeast Asia, South Asia and Western Europe.
Yes, there are parts of the US that are struggling with high rates of violence but the great majority of United States citizens do not live in or frequent those communities. If Gallup’s polling was limited to low-income urban areas with high rates of substance abuse (while noting that Appalachia has many of those conditions yet stranger-to-stranger violent crime is rare), the United States would be among the most dangerous countries.
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