Where is it safer to live – in Europe or in the USA?

European cities are teeming with knife-wielding thugs who'll stab you just for your phone. America is full of gun-toting thugs and overzealous ICE agents. Such clichés are common on social media—on both sides of the Atlantic, people believe life is worse overseas. The publication explains the reality. Economist.

Comparing crime statistics across countries is always difficult. People vary in their propensity to report crime, and definitions rarely fully coincide. Rates also depend on how the population is counted: if a city includes a large, sparsely populated area (for example, Staten Island in New York City), the average crime rate for the city will drop due to this area.

A new dataset, prepared by criminologist Matt Ashby of University College London and his colleagues, attempts to overcome these problems. They first selected 20 cities in wealthy countries with populations of at least 2,5 million that publish crime statistics annually. They then adjusted the boundaries to ensure comparable population densities (for example, Paris includes the entire Île-de-France region, not just the city itself). Finally, they standardized the definitions so that the crime categories generally match those in the UK.

On the subject: Fake ICE agents are robbing and raping immigrants, as the number of such crimes has sharply increased.

The results were more interesting than one might expect.

Homicide rates (including unintentional ones) are an imperfect indicator of street safety: most often, someone is killed by someone they know. However, these statistics are best suited for international comparisons. According to these data, Chicago is the undisputed leader in the number of victims. In 2024, there were 587 homicides there, or 22 per 100 residents, which is 2,7 times more than the next most dangerous city, Los Angeles. The average rate for ten European cities is 1,7 per 100 residents.

In other crime categories, the line is less clear. Robbery involving violence occurs at roughly equal rates in both Europe and the US, although London and Paris are particularly bad, with over 300 incidents per 100 residents per year.

Car thefts are common in Chicago and Los Angeles, but New York City copes better than most European cities.

However, apartment burglaries are more common in Europe. On the one hand, Europe's generous social security system may reduce the temptation to steal. On the other hand, America's tough police force and significantly higher arrest rates may counterbalance the situation.

Ashby says these statistics are the "least-bad attempt" at making data comparable. He and his colleagues developed them to allow policymakers to analyze trends across countries. Reporting disparities remain a serious problem. For example, official rape figures in England and Wales have doubled over the past ten years. However, confidential surveys show that the actual number of cases has remained roughly the same: the increase appears to be due to more people reporting to the police, as well as improved crime reporting. Similarly, Ashby says, the increase in business robberies recorded in London may have occurred because police have made it easier to report such crimes.

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While international comparisons are difficult, trends on both sides of the Atlantic provide cause for optimism. Murder rates in London and New York are now lower than at any time since such statistics began being kept. The number of robberies in Paris may seem high, but over the past decade, they have almost halved.

The overall trend is that cities in Europe and America are safer, friendlier, and more pleasant than they were a generation ago.

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