Tokyo tops the rankings for overall safest city this year, according to The Economist’s report: The Safe Cities Index 2015: Assessing Urban Security in the Digital Age. By ranking 50 cities under four main categories: digital security, health security, infrastructure safety and personal safety, the report found that the world’s most populous city is also the safest in the Index, especially with preparations underway for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. The Japanese city ranks in the top five for personal safety and infrastructure safety, despite suffering regular earthquakes and being home to 38 million people, according to the UN. It tops the chart of cities championing digital security.
Tokyo did fall lower in the ranks in the area of health security. This category measures a city’s health security based on many factors, including the ratio of hospital beds to population size and life expectancy. In this category, Zurich in Switzerland tops the chart with a score of 79.05 out of 100. This category includes more than having appropriate measures in place to handle, for example, an Ebola outbreak. Cities ranking high in this area have good air quality, low indoor pollution, and good traffic management to help reduce road accidents. This area in particular calls for more preventative strategies, as well as reactive programs, to help reduce risk.