Bangladesh’s capital and megacity, Dhaka, has now been ranked at the bottom in The Economist's ‘Safe Cities Index 2017’, while Tokyo has topped the list yet again. The results of the 2017 Safe Cities Index, which now covers 60 cities, again show a sharp divide in overall levels of safety between the rapidly urbanising developing world and the stagnant developed world. The top three cities in the index are unchanged from 2015—Tokyo, Singapore and Osaka are ranked first, second and third respectively—and still separated by mere tenths of a point. Asian and European cities remain at the top of the index. Of the cities in the top 10 positions in the overall index, four are East Asian cities (Tokyo, Singapore, Osaka and Hong Kong), while three (Amsterdam, Stockholm and Zurich) are European. Asia, the Middle East and Africa dominate the bottom of the index. Dhaka,
Yangon and Karachi are at the bottom of the list. Of the 10 cities at the bottom of the overall index, three are in South-east Asia (Manila, Ho Chi Minh City and Jakarta), two are in South Asia (Dhaka and Karachi) and two are in the Middle East and Africa (Cairo and Tehran). The Safe Cities Index 2017 is a report that was published last Thursday by The Economist Intelligence Unit and is sponsored by NEC. (Nippon Electric Company, Limited was renamed NEC Corporation, and is known simply as NEC.) The report is based on the second iteration of the index, which ranks 60 cities across 49 indicators covering digital security, health security, infrastructure security and personal security. Dhaka ranked 58th, with overall points of 47.37, according to the index. On digital security, Dhaka, along with other low-income cities—Ho Chi Minh City, Yangon and Manila—often lacks technological skills, and competing challenges such as tackling infectious diseases and poverty can push cyber security lower on the list of priorities, the study revealed.
As regards health security, Dhaka’s position is second from the bottom. Among the poorer cities, it is struggling to deliver adequate health services. On infrastructure security, Dhaka is placed at the bottom 10 in this category along with other lower-income cities—Mumbai, Delhi, Manila, Yangon and Karachi. And finally, in the personal security category, Dhaka ranked 43rd and Karachi got the last position among the bottom 10 countries.
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Editor : M. Shamsur Rahman
Published by the Editor on behalf of Independent Publications Limited at Media Printers, 446/H, Tejgaon I/A, Dhaka-1215.
Editorial, News & Commercial Offices : Beximco Media Complex, 149-150 Tejgaon I/A, Dhaka-1208, Bangladesh. GPO Box No. 934, Dhaka-1000.
Editor : M. Shamsur Rahman
Published by the Editor on behalf of Independent Publications Limited at Media Printers, 446/H, Tejgaon I/A, Dhaka-1215.
Editorial, News & Commercial Offices : Beximco Media Complex, 149-150 Tejgaon I/A, Dhaka-1208, Bangladesh. GPO Box No. 934, Dhaka-1000.