Highlights
Podcasts of this article are available on Spotify and YouTube.
A world review of citizen perceptions of safety. The United States and Canada (and Sub-Saharan Africa) are the only regions of the world where perceptions of safety decreased because of crime. For the US and Canada, it declined from 76 percent in 2006 to 72 percent in 2023.
For the rest of the world, perceptions of safety increased.
Author
Leonard Adam Sipes, Jr.
Former Senior Specialist for Crime Prevention and Statistics 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 police officer. Retired federal senior spokesperson.
Former advisor to presidential and gubernatorial campaigns. Former advisor to the “McGruff-Take a Bite Out of Crime” national media campaign. Produced successful state anti-crime media campaigns.
Thirty-five years of directing award-winning (50+) public relations for national and state criminal justice agencies. Interviewed thousands of times by every national news outlet, often with a focus on crime statistics and research. Created the first state and federal podcasting series. Produced a unique and emulated style of government proactive public relations.
Certificate of Advanced Study-The Johns Hopkins University.
Author of ”Success With The Media: Everything You Need To Survive Reporters and Your Organization” available at Amazon and additional booksellers.
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A comprehensive overview of crime for recent years is available at Violent and Property Crime Rates In The U.S.
Background
This article is based on two scores, perceptions of crime in individual countries and sections of the world based on perceived safety. It’s based on Gallup’s latest annual update on global safety.
I also use Gallup’s Global Safety Starts To Slip.
See last year’s Safest And Most Dangerous Countries-Where Does The US Rank? for additional information.
141 countries were surveyed with the United States ranking 42nd in 2022.
The United States ranked 52nd in 2023.
Note that nine countries have the same score as the US and another 5 were one point higher for 2023.
Many of the countries scoring better than the US in 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.
Some believe that the US is one of the most dangerous countries in the world based on crime. Eliminating the smaller less diverse countries or countries with similar scores, the United States would score much higher.
The question, however, is whether growing crime in Canada and the US is leading those two countries to judge themselves as less safe.
Article
Gallup’s latest annual update on global safety shows people worldwide feel safer today than they did a decade ago, but many countries have a long way to go to achieve the “peaceful societies” that are essential for sustainable development.
In 2023, 70% of adults worldwide said they feel safe walking alone at night where they live, which is considerably higher than it was a decade ago and at most points in Gallup’s nearly 20-year trend. However, progress has stalled on this measure in the past several years, and slightly fewer people today feel safe than in 2020 when a record-high 72% felt safe.
Chart (click for an interactive chart)
The United States-Canada and Sub-Saharan Africa are the only sections of the world where perceptions of safety decreased. For the US and Canada, it went from 76 percent in 2006 to 72 percent in 2023.
World Rankings For Safety
Regionally, at least seven in 10 people feel safe in Asia-Pacific, Western Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, Northern America (U.S. and Canada), and post-Soviet Eurasia. Of all the regions, post-Soviet Eurasia has gained the most ground in the past two decades; almost twice as many felt safe in 2023 (71%) as in 2006 (37%).
People continue to feel the least safe in Sub-Saharan Africa (51%) and Latin America and the Caribbean (47%). Further, feelings of safety have declined more in Sub-Saharan Africa than in any other region over the past two decades. In Latin America and the Caribbean, the percentage who said they feel safe has never topped 50%.
El Salvador Ranks Among ‘Most Safe’ for First Time
El Salvador, once known as the murder capital of the world, made the top of the “most safe” list for the first time in 2023, with a record-high 88% of residents saying they feel safe.
Although the country has drifted toward becoming a police state, the government’s crackdown on gangs — which have incarcerated approximately 2% of the country’s population — has made the country safer. El Salvador currently boasts one of the lowest homicide rates in the Western Hemisphere.
Fewer Israelis Feel Safe in Wake of Oct. 7 Attacks
At 82% in 2022, Israelis’ perceived safety was higher than levels in other OECD member states, such as Japan (78%), Germany (78%) and the U.S. (73%).
In the immediate aftermath of the Hamas attacks on Israel in October 2023, this was no longer the case. A much lower 68% of Israelis said they felt safe walking alone at night where they live.
What Happened To The US And Canada?
As stated above, the United States-Canada and Sub-Saharan Africa are the only sections of the world where perceptions of safety decreased. For the US and Canada, it declined from 76 percent in 2006 to 72 percent in 2023. For Sub-Saharan Africa, it decreased from 58 percent in 2006 to 51 percent in 2023. Considering the huge difference in population, the bulk of the findings for the US-Canada have to be based on US polling respondents.
“Violent crime in Canada is now at levels unseen since 2007” is a statement documenting an increasing concern about Canadian crime.
According to Statistics Canada’s Crime Severity Index, which measures police-reported crime, violent crime is soaring. The total number of violent incidents reported in 2022 was 39 percent higher than in 2015. These gains have largely reversed reductions achieved throughout the late 2000s and early 2010s — violent crime is now at levels unseen since 2007.
Countries with growing crime surround the US. Mexico faces a crisis of kidnappings, disappearances, and other criminal violence that has left over thirty thousand people dead each year since 2018.
As to the US, we are wallowing in crime statistical contradictions. Per the National Crime Victimization Survey from the Bureau of Justice Statistics of the US Department of Justice, the US experienced the largest increase in violent crime in the nation’s history, 44 percent in 2022. The Survey stated that the rate of violent crime was essentially unchanged in 2023.
Per crime reported to law enforcement compiled by the FBI, there have been decreases in reported crime. The primary issue with that finding is that the overwhelming percentage of all crimes are not reported to law enforcement which is why the criminological community and the media demanded the creation of the National Crime Victimization Survey over 50 years ago to get an accurate gauge of crime.
Fear of crime is at record highs in the United States per a separate Gallup report and other sources.
Conclusions
So why is the United States and Canada one of two sections of the world to experience decreases in perceptions of safety?
It’s probably because there are measures of crime and violence in both countries indicating substantial increases. Crime in Mexico is considerable along with Central America. The US is surrounded by rising crime countries. Yet some insist that US crime is decreasing based on crimes reported to law enforcement and we know that the vast majority of crime is not reported per USDOJ research.
As I write this, The US is entering the final phase of a presidential election so any reference to growing or record US crime is overwhelmingly and immediately rejected as a political stance regardless of the source being the US Department of Justice.
But the fact remains that the United States-Canada and Sub-Saharan Africa are the only sections of the world experiencing a considerable drop in perceptions of safety and, per additional Gallup research, the US has record concerns regarding crime.
Either citizens of the United States and Canada are misguided or foolish (as suggested by several US news publications) or there are concrete reasons for their perceptions based on well-documented government statistics indicating rising crime and violence.
In Canada or Mexico, there’s no national movement to disavow government crime statistics. In the United States, any suggestion that we have the nation’s highest percentage increase in violent crime per the US Department of Justice’s National Crime Victimization Survey or fear of crime per Gallup will get you immediate (and harsh) feedback.
It seems difficult (impossible?) to understand crime and citizen concerns in the US based on politics. To my knowledge, that isn’t happening in other countries.
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