Manila is 6th most dangerous city in the world: study

Street vendors in Quiapo Manila.
Street vendors in Quiapo Manila.

If the extrajudicial killings and constant transportation woes aren’t enough indications, a list that ranks safety in cities around the world has made it official: Manila is not safe.

This year’s Safe Cities Index researched and published by The Economist Intelligence Unit ranks Manila at 55 out of 60 cities. The Philippines’ capital ranked one place higher than Ho Chi Minh, Vietnamn, and one place lower than Caracas, Venezuela.

The study took into consideration 49 indicators including digital, health, personal, and infrastructure security.

Apart from being the sixth least safe city, Manila also has the highest rate of deaths caused by natural disasters, is in the bottom five in infrastructure security, and is second to the last in digital security.

Other Southeast Asian countries that joined Manila and Ho Chi Minh City in the bottom 10 are Jakarta ranked 57 and Yangon at 59.

Singapore took second place as the world’s second safest city after Tokyo, while Hong Kong came in at ninth place.

At the bottom of the Index was Karachi, Pakistan, due to its frequent and severe terrorist attacks.

The safest cities in the world:

  1. Tokyo, Japan
  2. Singapore
  3. Osaka, Japan
  4. Toronto, Canada
  5. Melbourne, Australia
  6. Amsterdam, the Netherlands
  7. Sydney, Australia
  8. Stockholm, Sweden
  9. Hong Kong, China
  10. Zurich, Switzerland

The least safe cities in the world:

  1. Karachi, Pakistan
  2. Yangon, Myanmar
  3. Dhaka, Bangladesh
  4. Jakarta, Indonesia
  5. Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
  6. Manila, the Philippines
  7. Caracas, Venezuela
  8. Quito, Ecuador
  9. Tehran, Iran
  10. Cairo, Egypt


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