Highlights
Podcasts of this article are available at Spotify And YouTube.
A global overview of citizens’ perceptions of safety. The United States and Canada (and sub-Saharan Africa) are the only regions in the world where the perception of safety has declined due to crime. For the US and Canada it fell from 76 percent in 2006 to 72 percent in 2023.
For the rest of the world, the perception of safety has increased.
Author
Leonard Adam Sipes, Jr.
Former senior crime prevention and statistics specialist at the Ministry of Justice Clearinghouse. Former Director of Information Services, National Crime Prevention Council. Former adjunct associate professor of criminology and public affairs at the University of Maryland, University College. Former police officer. Retired federal senior spokesperson.
Former advisor to presidential and gubernatorial campaigns. Former advisor to the national media campaign “McGruff-Take a Bite Out of Crime.” Successful media campaigns against crime produced by the state.
Thirty-five years leading award-winning (50+) public relations for state and national criminal justice agencies. Interviewed thousands of times by every national news outlet, often focusing on crime statistics and research. Created the first state and federal podcast series. Produced a unique and emulated style of proactive government public relations.
Certificate of Advanced Study – Johns Hopkins University.
Author of ”Media Success: Everything You Need to Survive Reporters and Your Organization‘ available from Amazon and other booksellers.
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Background
This article is based on two scores: perceptions of crime in individual countries and parts of the world based on perceived safety. It is based on Gallup’s latest annual update on global security.
I also use Gallup Global security is beginning to deteriorate.
Check out last year’s safest and most dangerous countries: where does the US rank? for additional information.
141 countries were surveyed, with the United States ranking 42nd in 2022.
The United States ranked 52nd in 2023.
Note that nine countries have the same score as the US and another five countries were one point higher for 2023.
Many of the countries that score better than the US have quite small populations: Switzerland, Iceland, Taiwan, Finland, Luxembourg, Norway, Vietnam, Denmark, Slovenia, Hong Kong, Israel, South Korea, Belgium, El Salvador, Croatia, Egypt Portugal, Georgia, the Philippines, Armenia, the United Arab Emirates and others score better “but” do not have the population or diversity of the US.
Some believe that the US is one of the most dangerous countries in the world based on crime. If we were to eliminate the smaller, less diverse countries or countries with similar scores, the United States would score much higher.
The question, however, is whether growing crime in Canada and the US is causing these two countries to consider themselves less safe.
Article
Gallup’s latest annual update on global security shows that people worldwide feel safer today than they did ten years ago, but that many countries still have a long way to go to achieve the “peaceful societies” that are essential for sustainable development.
By 2023, 70% of adults worldwide said they feel safe walking alone at night where they live, which is significantly higher than a decade ago and at most points in Gallup’s nearly two-decade trend. However, progress in this area has stalled in recent years, and slightly fewer people feel safe today than in 2020, when a record high of 72% felt safe.
Graphic (click for an interactive diagram)
The United States, Canada and sub-Saharan Africa are the only parts of the world where perceptions of security have declined. For the US and Canada it went from 76 percent in 2006 to 72 percent in 2023.
World ranking for safety
Regionally, at least seven in ten people feel safe in Asia Pacific, Western Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, North America (US 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%) as in 2006 (37%).
People still feel least safe in Sub-Saharan Africa (51%) and Latin America and the Caribbean (47%). Moreover, feelings of security in sub-Saharan Africa have declined more than in any other region over the past twenty years. In Latin America and the Caribbean, the percentage who say they feel safe has never exceeded 50%.
El Salvador is among the ‘most secure’ for the first time
El Salvador, once known as the murder capital of the world, topped the ‘most safe’ list for the first time in 2023, with a record high of 88% of residents saying they felt safe.
Although the country has developed into a police state, the government’s crackdown on gangs – which have incarcerated around 2% of the country’s population – has made the country safer. El Salvador currently has one of the lowest murder rates in the Western Hemisphere.
Fewer Israelis feel safe after the October 7 attacks
At 82% in 2022, Israelis’ perceived security was higher than that of other OECD member countries such as Japan (78%), Germany (78%) and the US (73%).
In the immediate aftermath of the Hamas attacks on Israel in October 2023, this was no longer the case. A much lower 68% of Israelis said they felt safe walking alone at night where they live.
What happened to the US and Canada?
As mentioned above, the United States, Canada and Sub-Saharan Africa are the only parts of the world where perceptions of security have declined. For the US and Canada it fell from 76 percent in 2006 to 72 percent in 2023. For Sub-Saharan Africa it fell from 58 percent in 2006 to 51 percent in 2023. Given the huge population difference, the bulk of the findings are for the US and Canada should be based on American polls.
“Violent crime in Canada is now at levels not seen since 2007” is a statement documenting growing concerns about Canadian crime.
According to Statistics Canada’s Crime Severity Index, which measures police-reported crimes, violent crime is increasing. The total number of reported violent incidents in 2022 was 39 percent higher than in 2015. These gains have largely reversed the reductions achieved in the late 2000s and early 2010s – violent crime is now at levels not seen since 2007.
Countries with growing crime surround the US. Mexico is facing a crisis of kidnappings, disappearances and other criminal violence that has claimed the lives of more than thirty thousand people every year since 2018.
As for the US, we wallow in statistical contradictions on crime. According to the National Crime Victimization Survey from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics, the U.S. experienced the largest increase in violent crimes in the nation’s history, 44 percent by 2022. The survey found that the violent crime rate essentially had remained unchanged. in 2023.
Per crime reported to law enforcement, compiled by the FBI, the number of cases has decreased reported crime. The main problem with this finding is that the overwhelming percentage of all crimes go unreported to law enforcement. Therefore, more than 50 years ago, the criminological community and the media demanded the creation of the National Crime Victimization Survey to gain an accurate picture of crime.
Fears of crime are at record highs in the United States, according to a separate Gallup report and other sources.
Conclusions
So why are the United States and Canada one of two parts of the world where the perception of safety is declining?
This is probably because there are crime and violence figures in both countries that indicate a substantial increase. Crime in Mexico, like in Central America, is significant. The US is surrounded by countries with increasing crime. Yet some argue that American crime is declining based on crimes reported to law enforcement agencies, and we know that the vast majority of crimes go unreported according to USDOJ research.
As I write this, the US is entering the final stages of the presidential election, so any reference to growing or record levels of US crime is overwhelmingly and immediately rejected as a political position, regardless of the source – the US Department of Justice.
But the fact remains that the United States-Canada and Sub-Saharan Africa are the only parts of the world where perceptions of security have dropped significantly, and according to additional Gallup research, the U.S. has unprecedented concerns about crime.
Either citizens of the United States and Canada are deluded or foolish (as suggested by several American news publications), or there are concrete reasons for their perception, based on well-documented government statistics that point to increasing crime and violence.
There is no national movement in Canada or Mexico to deny government crime statistics. In the United States, any suggestion that we have the highest percentage increase in violent crime in the country according to the Department of Justice’s National Crime Victimization Survey or fear of crime according to Gallup will get you immediate (and harsh) feedback.
It seems difficult (impossible?) to understand crime and citizen concerns in the US based on politics. As far as I know, that doesn’t happen in other countries.
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