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People's sense of security and their perception towards crime and perception matter a lot across the whole world. The 2018 Gallup Global Law and Order report has revealed Egypt, Rwanda and Mauritius to be the safest places in Africa. Gallup's Law and Order Index gauges people’s sense of personal security and their personal experiences with crime and law enforcement.
Egypt is at the helm of the list in Africa, followed by Rwanda and then Mauritius. Worldwide, Singapore tops the list at 97%. Familiar names dominate the top list worldwide, with the likes of Norway, Iceland and Finland tying at 93% each, closely coming after Singapore. Venezuela and Afghanistan are some of the countries which have a low ranking worldwide.
Egypt scored 88%, Rwanda scored 83% and Mauritius had 82%. They are closely followed by Ethiopia and Algeria which both scored 79%. In measuring people's sense of personal security and their personal experiences with crime and law enforcement, four questions are asked. These include the city or area where a person lives, the confidence they have in the local police force, whether they feel safe walking alone at night in the city or area where they live and whether they have been assaulted or mugged in the past 12 months.
Rwanda seems particularly thrilled with the news. Rwanda's Justice Minister Johnston Busingye revealed to Rwanda's leading daily The New Times that for the last 18 years or so when the national police was established—the aim was to ensure the ultimate level in terms of keeping law and order in the country. He said that from 1994, the government has been deliberate about the safety of its citizens and will continue to do so until the Gallup index can rank the country first in the world.
The information in the 2018 Gallup Global Law and Order Report was elicited from people's answers to the four questions outlined above from more than 148,000 interviews with adults in 142 countries and areas in 2017. Rwanda scored highest on the continent regarding the number of people who feel safe walking at night. However, confidence in authorities also remains an issue in sub-Saharan Africa, with only 60% of respondents in the region reporting that they trust the police.
Social trust is still an issue in Sub-Saharan Africa. Four countries in the region - Botswana, South Africa, Liberia, and Gabon - remain in the top 10 of the countries where people are "least likely to feel safe." The police force is trusted more in North Africa, with 68% of trust in the police force.
But for others, the situation is pretty much bad. "In only three countries were residents considerably more likely than Venezuelans to say they had been the victims of theft in the past year: Afghanistan (46%), Uganda (49%) and South Sudan (50%). Nearly one in four residents in Venezuela (23%) said they had been assaulted — again one of the highest percentages throughout the world that year."
"As in previous years, people in Latin America and the Caribbean are the least likely among all global regions to feel secure in their communities" the report reads in part.
"More than two in every three people worldwide say they have confidence in their local police (69%) and feel safe walking alone at night where they live (68%)."
