World And US Crime Rankings From Gallup-US Fear Of Crime An Issue

Highlights

This article is available as a podcast on YouTube.

Quote from Gallup: Sustainable Growth Starts With Ensuring People Feel Secure.

Fear of crime decays for the US and Canada. Most countries saw improvements in perceptions of crime. On a global level, people feel safer today than they have in years.

For the current four-question Law and Order Index in 2024, the US ranked 54th out of 144 countries. Eight countries had the same score as the US; thus, the United States had a de facto rank of 46.

The United States ranked 64th solely using “Do you feel safe walking alone at night in the city or area where you live?” Iraq, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Libya, Albania, and multiple other countries scored higher. Four countries had the same score as the US; thus, the United States had a de facto rank of 60.

Gallup states that people’s perceptions are highly related to hard data. In that case, we need to explain how reported crime is falling in many US cities, in contrast to a near-record fear of US crime, as reported by Gallup and other sources.

 

Leonard Adam Sipes, Jr.

 

Former Senior Specialist for Crime Prevention and Statistics for the Department of Justice’s clearinghouse. Former Director of Information Services, National Crime Prevention Council. Former Adjunct Associate Professor of Criminology and Public Affairs-University of Maryland, University College. Former police officer. Retired federal senior spokesperson.

 

Former advisor to presidential and gubernatorial campaigns. Former advisor to the “McGruff-Take a Bite Out of Crime” national media campaign. Produced successful state anti-crime media campaigns.

 

Thirty-five years of directing award-winning (50+) public relations for national and state criminal justice agencies. Interviewed thousands of times by every national news outlet, often with a focus on crime statistics and research. Created the first state and federal podcasting series. Produced a unique and emulated style of government proactive public relations.

 

Certificate of Advanced Study-The Johns Hopkins University.

 

Author of ”Success With The Media: Everything You Need To Survive Reporters and Your Organization,” available at Amazon and additional bookstores.

 

Crime in America.Net-“Trusted Crime Data, Made Clear.”

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Article

During a podcast with Citizens Behind The Badge, I was asked how the United States ranks in terms of crime and fear of crime compared to other countries. This article answers those questions.

What’s below is from Gallup’s Global Safety Report (readers need to download to access the report).

Gallup conducts a yearly survey of 145,170 adults aged 15 and older across 144 countries.

Gallup asks respondents four questions: 

1. People’s feelings of safety (Do you feel safe to walk alone at night)
2. Confidence in their local police
3. Their personal experiences with assault
4. Their personal experiences with theft

In 2024, 71% of adults worldwide expressed confidence in their police; almost one in eight (12%) said they had property stolen from them or another household member in the past year; and 6% said they were assaulted or mugged.

These percentages have remained relatively stable for at least the past five years.

Gallup issued separate reports on perceptions of law enforcement in the past, with US and Canadian police ranking highly. 

The Law And Order Index

Gallup compiles the responses to the four questions listed above into a Law and Order Index score for each country. The higher the score, the higher the proportion of the population that reports feeling safe.

The Fear Of Crime Index

The Gallup report has a separate index focusing solely on the fear of crime in countries based on feeling safe to walk alone at night.

The Findings For This Article Are Mostly Based On The Four Question Law And Order Index

The survey answers the question as to where the United States (and other countries) rank within the Law and Order Index.

My Estimates

A ranking of 54th based on the Law and Order Index is my estimate (not Gallup’s), calculated by comparing the scores of all 144 countries included in the report.

The same applies to my estimate that the United States ranked 64th on the question “Do you feel safe walking alone at night in the city or area where you live?” 

These rankings are based on Gallup’s published charts and data tables that I downloaded and reviewed.

Where Does The US Rank Based On Crime and Fear Of Crime Using Gallup’s Four-Question Law And Order Index Scores?

For the current report in 2024, the US ranked 54th. Eight countries had the same score as the US; thus, the United States had a de facto rank of 46.

Many of the countries scoring better than the US in are rather small in population: Switzerland, Iceland, Taiwan, Finland, Luxemburg, Norway, Vietnam, Denmark, Slovenia, Hong Kong, Israel, South Korea, Belgium, El Salvador, Croatia, Egypt, Portugal, Georgia, Philippines, Armenia, United Arab Emirates and others score better “but” do not have the population (or the diversity) of the US.

It’s sorta like comparing Delaware to Denmark. Size matters. In 2024, 98% of Singaporeans said they feel safe walking alone at night, one of the highest figures Gallup has ever recorded globally. But Singapore is more of a city than a country.

Some of the countries scoring better than the US can be considered authoritarian. China scores much higher than the US, but there are reasons based on civilian control for that ranking. Google states that, per reliable estimates from human rights organizations, researchers, and government reports, at its peak, China detained up to 1.8 million Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in re-education camps beyond their criminal caseloads. 

There are countries with a more structured sense of social order (i.e., tighter restrictions on what’s acceptable), in Saudi Arabia and other countries. There are countries (El Salvador) that depend on very high rates of arrests and incarcerations, focusing on gang members.

Some believe that the US is one of the most dangerous countries in the world based on crime. That is not substantiated by this report. Eliminating the smaller, less diverse countries or countries with similar scores, the United States would rank much higher.

Where Does The US Rank  Using Gallup’s Separate Fear Of Crime Question?

The United States ranked 64th using “Do you feel safe walking alone at night in the city or area where you live?” Iraq, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Libya, Albania, and multiple other countries scored higher than the US. Four countries had the same score as the US; thus, the United States had a de facto rank of 60.

The US and Canada are the only regions in the world beyond Sub-Saharan Africa where the fear of crime decayed based on, “Do you feel safe walking alone at night in the city or area where you live?” Gallup lumps the United States and Canada together as “North America” in the charts below.

Considering that the population of the United States is approximately 343 million, and Canada’s population is approximately 40 million, the lack of improvement as to the fear of crime is mostly a US issue, using standard survey methodology. There is continued improvement for the rest of the world beyond Sub-Saharan Africa.

Feelings Of Safety

Where feelings of safety are lowest, Latin America and the Caribbean reached a milestone in 2024, with 50% of adults saying they feel safe walking alone at night, marking the first time perceptions in the region reached this level.

Perceptions in sub-Saharan Africa also improved last year, with 53% reporting that they feel safe. However, this increase reflects more of a recovery than a breakthrough, as the four-point gain from a low of 49% in 2021 brings the region back in line with its longer-term trend.

Despite these recent gains, Latin America and the Caribbean and sub-Saharan Africa remain the regions where people feel the least safe globally.

When Gallup first began measuring perceptions of safety in 2006, 41% of South Africans said they felt safe walking alone at night in their communities. Since then, despite some fluctuations, safety perceptions have rarely returned to that level. 

A Third Of Women Surveyed Feel Unsafe

While the overall global picture is one of progress, safety remains out of reach for many around the world. In 2024, more than a quarter of adults globally (27%) said they do not feel safe walking alone at night in their communities.

Women continue to be disproportionately affected: 32% of women said they do not feel safe, compared with 21% of men.

Are There Lessons For the United States From Gallup’s International Law And Order Index Scores?

Quotes From The Gallup Report

Sustainable Growth Starts With Ensuring People Feel Secure.

People’s perceptions are highly related to hard data.

On a global level, people feel safer today than they have in years.

 

Source

Gallup

Gallup wants readers to download a copy of the report.

Fact-Checked By ChatGPT

This article was fact-checked by ChatGPT. ChatGPT offered a variety of concerns because it could not read the charts and relied on the written version. Thus, rankings are my observations, and not Gallup’s.

Gallup measures perceptions (feelings of safety, confidence in police, and self-reported theft/assault in the past year) rolled up into an index; the NCVS (National Crime Victimization Survey) measures victimization using a complex household survey; these can and do diverge. Gallup itself stresses that perceptions correlate with objective indicators but are not identical to them.

ChatGPT indicates the rise in rates of US violence as 42 percent in 2022, where other sources put the increase at 44 percent.

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