5 minute read

Qatar: World’s Safest Country

Qatar:

World's Safest Country

By Ola Diab Qatar has been named the safest country in the world, according to the Crime Index by Country 2022 report by Numbeo, the world's largest user-contributed database on cities and countries.

Qatar has maintained its position as the ‘Safest Country’ in the world according to Numbeo Crime Index by Country 2022 out of 142 surveyed nations. For crime, Qatar scored a low 13.78, while for safety, it scored a high 86.22. Numbeo’s crime index calculations approximate the overall degree of crime in the city or country in question, while the safety index is an approximation of the general safety levels. In addition to Qatar, the safest countries are the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Taiwan, Isle of Man, Oman, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Japan, Armenia, and Slovenia making up the list. Venezuela recorded the highest crime rate at 83.58 and lowest safety rate at 16.42, ranking as the least safe country. Three Gulf countries ranked in the top 10: Qatar, the UAE and Oman. Numbeo is the world’s largest cost of living database. Numbeo is also a crowd-sourced global database of quality of life information including housing indicators, perceived crime rates, and quality of healthcare, among many other statistics. Numbeo has published its annual reports since 2009, based on measurement of the crime rate worldwide. The index of crimes in countries is measured according to the laws of those countries as it considers that there are acts that constitute crimes in some countries dissimilar to other countries, which gives an objective measure of the rate of crime in countries following applicable laws. Doha: Second Safest City In addition, Qatar's capital city, Doha, has also been declared the second safest city in the world by Numbeo’s Crime Index by City 2022 report. Scoring 86.17% in the safety index and 13.83% in the crime index, Doha is ranked as the second safest city in the world, following its same position (with different index numbers) in 2021, according to Numbeo’s Crime Index by City 2022 report.

The Crime Index by City 2022 report covered 459 cities in total and ranked Doha as the 458th city, attaining second place after Abu Dhabi (459th). In recent years, Qatar has continued to retain its global distinction as one of the safest countries in the world. In 2021, Doha was declared the second safest city in the world, according to Numbeo's Crime Index by City 2021 report. In 2020, Qatar was named the world's safest country by Numbeo's mid-year Crime Index by Country. Qatar has taken the title as the world's safest country at least three times on Numbeo – first in 2017, then again in 2019 and 2020. In addition, Qatar has been named the safest Arab country since 2015. To see Numbeo's reports on Qatar, visit numbeo.com Doha Declaration The global programme for the implementation of the Doha Declaration received wide international attention at the opening of the 14th United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in Kyoto, Japan in March 2021. It is described as a pioneering model in helping countries, especially developing ones, in dealing with organised crime, corruption, drugs and terrorism, and in building solid criminal justice systems, in addition to contributing to the implementation of the goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In a statement delivered at the conference, the Minister of Justice and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs, HE Dr Issa bin Saad Al Jafali Al Nuaimi, expressed the gratitude of Qatar to the people and government of Japan for hosting the conference despite the great difficulties resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, the early agreement on the Kyoto Declaration represents an effective roadmap that leads joint international efforts in crime prevention and criminal justice over the next five years. He said that Qatar has not and will not spare any effort in combating crime, consolidating the principle of the rule of law and establishing a successful and effective criminal justice system, noting that Qatar topped the list of countries in MENA in the ranking of the Global Peace Index for 2020, and ranked first in the Arab World at the Societal Safety and Security index. He also reviewed the achievements of the Doha Global Programme that were introduced during the Kyoto Conference. The Minister made a special reference to the programme reaching 2.5 mn people in 190 countries, besides the delivery of educational materials to more than 1.4 mn students, and benefitting more than 170,000 people from 187 countries. In addition, the programme trained more than 11,000 young people on crime prevention through sport, and trained more than 1,500 judges and public prosecutors on the issues of judicial integrity. Accordingly, he affirmed Qatar's keenness to provide all aspects of support to the UN Office in Vienna on Drugs and Crime, and to actively participate in all international and regional efforts, and at the bilateral level between countries, to implement the Kyoto Declaration and achieve its desired goals. Upon the inauguration of the 14th UN Conference in Kyoto, HE Dr Al Nuaimi handed over the banner from Qatar to Japan, stressing Qatar's keenness to provide full support to the new Japanese Presidency over the congress for the success of its tasks. HE the Minister presented the Japanese Presidency a small memento representing a boat with a sail symbolising the unity in front of the challenges. In addition, it confirms the continuity in the work of the crime prevention and criminal justice conferences, besides establishing the principle of building the conference on the achievements of previous conferences, and that the great legacy of the crime prevention conferences since 1955 would be present at all conferences. Ambassador Sultan Al Mansouri, the permanent representative of Qatar to the UN and international organisations in Vienna, handed over this symbol to the Japanese Presidency of the conference. m