Hamilton 99th out of 343 ‘most dangerous’ cities in the world: survey

Hamilton ranks 99th among 343 global cities based on perceptions relating to crime and safety in a survey online, with people reporting major concerns about drug use and property crimes. However, people appear less worried about racist or discriminatory physical attacks in the city.

Hamilton had moderate scores for crime and safety. Its current crime index was 55.1 and safety index was 44.9, according to the latest figures from Numbeo, a crowd-sourced online database of perceived consumer prices, real property prices, and quality of life metrics. The period for which the data was tracked was unclear.

The index estimates the overall level of crime in a given city or country. Crime levels lower than 20 are considered “very low,” crime levels between 20 and 40 are “low,” crime levels between 40 and 60 as “moderate,” crime levels between 60 and 80 as high, and crime levels higher than 80 as very high.

Caracas, Venezuela was ranked the most dangerous city in the world (crime index of 83.2 and safety index of 16.8), followed by Pretoria (South Africa), Durban (South Africa), Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea and Johannesburg (South Africa), according to Numbeo. Those countries generally scored high in the crime index and low in the safety index.

Quebec City was ranked the lowest among Canadian cities when it comes to crime perception at the 338th spot with a crime index of 18.1 and safety index of 81.9, followed by Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Taipei (Taiwan), Doha (Qatar), Ajman (United Arab Emirates) and Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates).

Using different set of data that had the crime index at 55.07 and safety index at 44.93, Numbeo provided more information on Hamilton.

When it comes to worries about being physically attacked because of skin colour, ethnic origin, gender or religion, Hamilton scored low (34.79). However, the city scored high when it came to concerns from respondents about people using or dealing drugs (72.63) as well as property crimes such as vandalism and theft (64.57).

People feel safe walking alone during daylight, with a score of 63.66 though they have a low perception of safety at night (34.10).

This data is based on 226 contributors as of July over the past three years.

The Crime Index takes into account survey responses about perceived safety and specific crimes. It is based on user-contributed data and perceptions, which may differ from official government statistics, according to Numbeo.

Meanwhile, Hamilton’s crime was down overall last year, according to another tool called the Crime Severity Index, including for both violent and non-violent crime.

Statistics Canada’s Crime Severity Index monitors the severity level of police-reported crime from one year to the next. It tracks both the prevalence of crime within a community, and the seriousness of the crimes committed.

“Research shows that higher levels of crime severity substantially reduce personal and community quality of life. As such, having a low CSI score is an indicator of community vitality,” according to the University of Waterloo’s website on the index.