The UAE has outranked Japan and Switzerland as one of the world’s safety countries…

Global database Numbeo has released its mid-year safety rankings for 2020 – and the UAE has taken out one of the top spots among 133 of the countries surveyed.

The Crime Index by Country report ranks the UAE as the third safest country in the world, with a safety index score of 84.55 and a crime index score of 15.45.

Numbeo explained it rating system by saying “The crime index is an estimation of overall level of crime in a given city or a country. We consider crime levels lower than 20 as very low, crime levels between 20 and 40 as being low, crime levels between 40 and 60 as being moderate, crime levels between 60 and 80 as being high and finally crime levels higher than 80 as being very high.”

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Conversely, a high safety index is what you should be aiming for. “If the city has a high safety index, it is considered very safe,” said the report.

The top 10 safest countries, as at July 2020 are:

  1. Qatar
  2. Taiwan
  3. UAE
  4. Georgia
  5. Oman
  6. Hong Kong
  7. Slovenia
  8. Isle of Man
  9. Switzerland
  10. Japan

According to the report, the least safe countries are:

  1. Venezuela
  2. Papua New Guinea
  3. South Africa
  4. Afghanistan
  5. Honduras
  6. Trinidad And Tobago
  7. Brazil
  8. Guyana
  9. El Salvador
  10. Syria

How does the UAE stack up on other fronts?

Earlier this year, Abu Dhabi was ranked as the ‘top Arab city’ in the 2020 World Happiness Report, which asks inhabitants how content they are over a number of days.

In March, Dubai was named the best city to live in the Middle East and Africa, ranking 15th worldwide in the KnightFrank City Wellbeing Index. The index takes into account such factors as sunshine hours, work-life balance, healthcare and crime levels.

We’re not sure whoever ranked Dubai as the second best city in the world for driving has ever tackled Sheikh Zayed Road at peak hour… but considering the 2019 Cities Index study looks at things such as road quality, low petrol prices and low annual road tax, we’re happy to take that title, too.