ANDEl Salvador was placed for the first time among the “safest” countries in the world, According to the Global Security Report published this Monday by the Gallup consultancy, according to which 88 percent of its citizens feel safe walking alone at night there.
According to the criteria of
The analysis firm attributes this record figure to the recent offensive by the Nayib Bukele government against gangs. While in 2017 only 28 percent said they felt safe walking alone on the streets of El Salvador at night, today the figure is closer to 90 percent.
“Although the country has become more of a police state, the government’s crackdown on gangs (which has incarcerated about 2 percent of the country’s population) has made the country safer. El Salvador now has one of the lowest homicide rates in the Western Hemisphere,” the report said.
El Salvador surpasses by one percentage point countries such as Switzerland, Iceland or Luxembourg, where the 87 percent of its citizens say they feel safe walking alone at night.
Kuwait, with 99 percent, tops the list as the country with the best perception of safety, followed by Singapore (94 percent) and Norway (92 percent).
The report also found that 70% of adults worldwide said they would feel safe walking alone at night in 2023, a significant increase from 64% in 2013, but a two percentage point decrease from 2020.
The top 15 countries in the ranking are:
- 1. Kuwait
- 2. Singapore
- 3. Norway
- 4. Saudi Arabia
- 5. Tajikistan
- 6. Slovenia
- 7. United Arab Emirates
- 8. El Salvador
- 9. Montenegro
- 10. Bahrain
- 11. Iceland
- 12. Kosovo
- 13. Luxembourg
- 14. Switzerland
- 15. Malawi
Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa among the most insecure regions in the world
According to the Gallup report, Latin America and the Caribbean, along with sub-Saharan Africa, remain the regions where people feel least safe walking alone at night, with a respective percentage of 47 percent and 51 percent.
“Sense of security has declined more in sub-Saharan Africa than in any other region over the past two decades. In Latin America and the Caribbean, the percentage of those who say they feel safe has never exceeded 50 percent,” says Gallup.
Ecuador, for example, ranked as the country with the lowest security score in the world, with only 27 percent of its inhabitants saying they felt safe. walking alone at night, a new record low for the South American country.
The country faces a security crisis that has intensified since the Covid-19 pandemic, with a homicide rate of nearly 50 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2023, according to Gallup data.
Ecuador is only surpassed by three percentage points by countries such as South Africa and Liberia, who are statistically on par with each other, with 30 percent. while Chile is also among the least safe countries with 36 percent.
In the 2022 report, 42 percent of Ecuador’s adult population said they felt safe walking alone at night, with Afghanistan having the worst score at 22 percent.
In the case of Colombia, Gallup revealed that the percentage of people who say they feel safe walking alone at night is 45 percent. A percentage similar to that seen in Brazil (48 percent), Argentina (41 percent) or Peru (45 percent).
According to the report, “at least seven in ten people feel safe in Asia-Pacific, Western Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, North America (the United States and Canada) and post-Soviet Eurasia. Of all regions, post-Soviet Eurasia has gained the most ground over the past two decades: almost twice as many people felt safe in 2023 (71 percent) than in 2006 (37 percent).
The Global Security Report: Measuring Personal Security Around the World also revealed that Israel, one of the “safest” countries in 2022, has seen a 14 percentage point drop in safety since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks.
82 percent of Israelis felt safe walking alone at night in 2022 compared to 68 percent of residents who said they did so in the last survey.
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