World Map of Peace
The safest cities in the world
Copenhagen leads the Safe Cities Index 2021, just ahead of Toronto and Singapore. What the index measures, in which European cities people feel safest and where the police in Germany record the fewest offences
Key points at a glance
- According to the Safe Cities Index 2021, the safest cities in the world are Copenhagen with 82.4 out of 100 points, Toronto with 82.2 and Singapore with 80.7.
- The index rates 60 cities using 76 indicators in five areas: personal, digital and health security, infrastructure and the environment. No newer edition has been published so far.
- In the European city survey of 2023, 86.5 percent of people in Copenhagen felt safe walking alone at night in their city, more than in any other city surveyed.
- In Germany, among cities with more than 200,000 inhabitants, the police recorded the fewest offences per inhabitant in Munich in 2025.
In numbers
82.4
points for Copenhagen
first of 60 in the Safe Cities Index 2021
86.5%
feel safe at night
in Copenhagen, the highest figure in the 2023 city survey
6,061
offences per 100,000 inhabitants
in Munich, the lowest figure of Germany’s large cities in 2025
- 1. Copenhagen82.4
- 2. Toronto82.2
- 3. Singapore80.7
- 4. Sydney80.1
- 5. Tokyo80.0
- 6. Amsterdam79.3
- 7. Wellington79.0
- 8. Hong Kong78.6
- 8. Melbourne78.6
- 10. Stockholm78.0
- Copenhagen, Denmark86.5%
- Oviedo, Spain85.3%
- Ljubljana, Slovenia85.2%
- Zurich, Switzerland84.2%
- Groningen, Netherlands83.9%
- Białystok, Poland83.5%
- Aalborg, Denmark83.3%
- Braga, Portugal83.1%
- Luxembourg81.9%
- Oulu, Finland81.5%
- Munich, Germany76.5%
Safe Cities Index
- Publisher
- Economist Intelligence Unit, sponsored by NEC
- What is rated
- Five areas of security using 76 indicators
- Which cities
- 60 selected large cities worldwide
- How often
- So far 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2021
- Result
- Points from 0 to 100
Police Crime Statistics
- Publisher
- Federal Criminal Police Office, Wiesbaden
- What is rated
- All offences that become known to the police
- Which cities
- German cities with 100,000 inhabitants or more and state capitals
- How often
- Once a year
- Result
- Cases per 100,000 inhabitants
- Data basis
- Safe Cities Index 2021, published in August 2021
- Publisher
- Economist Intelligence Unit, sponsored by NEC
- Compared
- 60 cities using 76 indicators
- How to read it
- Points from 0 to 100, more points mean more safety
- Author
- Johannes Max Harms
Which are the safest cities in the world?
According to the Safe Cities Index 2021 by the Economist Intelligence Unit, the safest cities in the world are Copenhagen, Toronto and Singapore. Copenhagen scores 82.4 out of 100 points, Toronto 82.2 and Singapore 80.7. They are followed by Sydney, Tokyo, Amsterdam, Wellington, Hong Kong and Melbourne sharing eighth place, and Stockholm.
The gaps at the top are small. There are only 4.4 points between first and tenth place. The publishers therefore describe the change at the top not as a major upheaval but as a new order among cities that have always been near the top.
The 2021 index is the fourth and so far the latest edition. Earlier editions appeared in 2015, 2017 and 2019. As soon as a new edition is published, this page will be updated.
What does the Safe Cities Index measure?
The index combines 76 indicators in five areas: personal security, digital security, health security, infrastructure security and, for the first time in 2021, environmental security. A city can therefore do very well on crime and less well on health care.
Different cities lead in each area. Sydney leads in digital security, Tokyo in health, Hong Kong in infrastructure and Wellington in the environment. Copenhagen is among the first five in three areas: personal and digital security and infrastructure.
The index was compiled in the middle of the pandemic. According to the publishers, digital security has become an even higher priority because more work and commerce have moved online. How peace between whole states can be measured is shown by the Global Peace Index.
Which cities lead in personal security?
In personal security, five European cities lead: Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Stockholm and Brussels. Anyone asking about safety in the narrower sense, meaning protection from crime, will find a better answer here than in the overall ranking.
That European cities in particular lead here fits other measurements. In the Global Peace Index 2026, seven of the ten most peaceful countries are in Europe, as the page about the safest countries shows.
A figure for a whole city does not show, however, how safety is distributed across individual neighbourhoods and times of day. That applies to cities high up as much as to those further down.
How safe do people feel in European cities?
For the survey on the quality of life in European cities, people in European cities are asked about their everyday lives, and Eurostat publishes the results. In 2023, 86.5 percent of people in Copenhagen said they felt safe walking alone at night in their city. Oviedo follows with 85.3, Ljubljana with 85.2, Zurich with 84.2 and Groningen with 83.9 percent.
Among the German cities in the survey, Rostock with 76.7 and Munich with 76.5 percent are ahead, and Hamburg reaches 73.5 percent. In Berlin, 58.8 percent felt safe walking alone at night.
Feeling safe is not the same as the number of offences. It also depends on lighting, public transport, the neighbourhood and personal experience. That is exactly why it complements the crime statistics.
Where do the police in Germany record the fewest offences?
According to the Police Crime Statistics 2025 of the Federal Criminal Police Office, Munich had the lowest frequency rate among cities with more than 200,000 inhabitants, with 6,061 recorded offences per 100,000 inhabitants. It is followed by Augsburg, Mainz, Nuremberg and Karlsruhe. For violent crime, Mainz with 263 and Karlsruhe with 269 cases per 100,000 inhabitants were lowest.
The frequency rate counts all offences that become known to the police, from shoplifting to assault. Whatever nobody reports is missing. Offences are counted where they take place, but the figure only relates to the inhabitants. Cities with many commuters and visitors therefore often have higher figures.
Which large cities have the highest figures and what homicide rates look like worldwide is shown on the page about the most dangerous cities. Both pages use the same source and can therefore be compared directly.
How meaningful are rankings of safe cities?
Every ranking only answers the question it asks. The Safe Cities Index compares 60 selected large cities; many others are missing. The crime statistics count reported offences, the city survey measures how people feel. Putting all three side by side shows more than a single rank.
Then there is the age of the data. The Safe Cities Index dates from 2021, the crime statistics from 2025 and the survey from 2023. Cities change during that time.
Safety does not come from police and technology alone, but also from trust between neighbours and from people who settle disputes before they escalate. How conflicts can be resolved peacefully is shown on the page Why is there war?. This page will be updated with every new edition of the sources.
Economist Intelligence Unit, Safe Cities Index 2021
This change reflects not a tectonic shift but more a reordering among cities that have always come close to the top.
Sources
German cities with the fewest recorded offences in 2025
| Rank | City | Offences per 100,000 inhabitants | Violent crime per 100,000 inhabitants |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Munich | 6,061 | 309 |
| 2 | Augsburg | 6,464 | 301 |
| 3 | Mainz | 6,600 | 263 |
| 4 | Nuremberg | 7,206 | 329 |
| 5 | Karlsruhe | 7,407 | 269 |
| 6 | Wiesbaden | 7,554 | 382 |
| 7 | Dresden | 7,781 | 342 |
| 8 | Bielefeld | 8,041 | 459 |
| 9 | Braunschweig | 8,069 | 335 |
| 10 | Oberhausen | 8,109 | 323 |
| 11 | Rostock | 8,319 | 350 |
| 12 | Bochum | 8,538 | 313 |
| 13 | Bonn | 8,593 | 381 |
| 14 | Stuttgart | 8,797 | 457 |
| 15 | Gelsenkirchen | 8,939 | 450 |
| 16 | Essen | 9,013 | 343 |
| 17 | Krefeld | 9,040 | 365 |
| 18 | Lübeck | 9,162 | 363 |
| 19 | Mönchengladbach | 9,171 | 373 |
| 20 | Chemnitz | 9,270 | 437 |
Source: Federal Criminal Police Office, Police Crime Statistics 2025, table of cities with 100,000 inhabitants or more. The 39 cities with more than 200,000 inhabitants are included; rank 1 has the lowest figure. The frequency rate gives the cases known to the police per 100,000 inhabitants, calculated on the basis of the 2022 census.
More in this series
- The most dangerous cities in the worldConsejo Ciudadano ranking 2025Port-au-Prince in Haiti had the highest homicide rate of any city in the world in 2025, followed by Babahoyo in Ecuador and Nelson Mandela Bay in South Africa. What the ranking measures, what it does not, and how Germany’s large cities compare
- The safest countries in the worldGlobal Peace Index 2026Iceland has led the ranking of the most peaceful countries for nineteen years. Who follows behind it and why is shown by the Global Peace Index 2026
More questions about the safest cities
Which large German cities do best?
According to the Police Crime Statistics 2025, Munich had the lowest frequency rate among cities with more than 200,000 inhabitants: 6,061 recorded offences per 100,000 inhabitants. It is followed by Augsburg with 6,464, Mainz with 6,600, Nuremberg with 7,206 and Karlsruhe with 7,407. The table below shows the 20 large cities with the lowest figures.
Among all cities with 100,000 inhabitants or more, Fürth with 4,385 and Erlangen with 4,434 were lowest. The frequency rate only counts reported or detected offences and includes theft and fraud. It shows how much the police record, not how safe someone feels. The full table with violent crime and burglaries is on the page The safest cities in Germany.
Which are the safest cities in Europe?
In the Safe Cities Index 2021, Copenhagen is in first place, Amsterdam in sixth and Stockholm in tenth. They are followed by Barcelona in 11th place, Frankfurt in 13th, London in 15th and Zurich in 19th. In personal security, European cities take all of the first five places.
If you ask people themselves, Copenhagen is also ahead: in the survey on the quality of life in European cities 2023, 86.5 percent there felt safe walking alone at night in their city. Oviedo, Ljubljana, Zurich and Groningen follow. Which countries in Europe are the most peaceful overall is shown on the page about the safest countries in the world.
How does Frankfurt do in the Safe Cities Index?
Frankfurt is the only German city in the Safe Cities Index 2021. It ranks 13th overall and third in personal security, behind Copenhagen and Amsterdam.
In the Police Crime Statistics 2025, by contrast, Frankfurt has the highest frequency rate of Germany’s large cities. The two do not contradict each other: the index compares 60 world cities using many measures, while the crime statistics count reported offences per inhabitant, including those involving commuters and visitors.
Which cities are at the bottom of the index?
In the last places of the Safe Cities Index 2021 are Yangon in 60th place, Karachi in 59th and Caracas in 58th. Before them come Cairo, Lagos and Casablanca.
The index rates security in five areas, including health care, infrastructure and environmental risks. A low place can therefore also be due to health care, infrastructure or environmental risks, not crime alone.
Are the safest cities also safe destinations?
This page does not give travel advice. The index describes a city as a whole and reflects the year 2021. It cannot capture what makes a particular trip risky today.
For every country, the German Federal Foreign Office publishes travel and safety advice that is updated continuously. It is the reliable basis for your decision, even for cities high up in the ranking.
Peace does not begin in a ranking
Behind every position are people who settle disputes, connect neighbourhoods and build trust. That is exactly where W3ltfrieden starts: with peace missions that you can start or support yourself.
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