A 2023 ranking has listed Jamaica as one of the safest countries in the world, sharing its status with New Zealand, Costa Rica, and Cyprus.
The Global Law and Order Report for 2023 from Gallup Inc., a well-respected international analytics company, measured the sense of personal security and experiences with law enforcement and crime among country residents aged 15 and older in 141 nations and territories through 2022. With a score of 75 out of the maximum of 100 points, Jamaica was ranked among the safest countries in the Caribbean.
Comparatively, Puerto Rico had a score of 74 and the Dominican Republic scored 64. Ministry of Tourism senior advisor Delano Seiveright did not make a direct comment on the report but noted that the safety of every Jamaican and visitor was of major importance.
He added that the rate of crimes committed against visitors is very low in Jamaica, measured at about 0.01 percent. Many tourists have visited Jamaica over the years without experiencing any crime incident, and the island has been a favourite tourist destination for years as well.
Meanwhile, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, and Canada all scored 83 points. The report revealed that Canada has one of the largest regional declines in scoring from 2021.
In 2022, Canada dropped four points in the ranking to a new low of 83, matching the score of the US which had remained unchanged from the previous year. Seventy-eight percent of Canadians still say they trust their local police and 74 percent feel safe walking alone at night, but both these numbers reflect a drop from 2021 and were attributed to an erosion of faith in the police as the violent crime rate continues to rise in Canada where the 2022 murder rate was at the highest point in 30 years.
The report also measured the progress of world nations in meeting the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal, which is focused on peace, justice, and the existence of strong institutions. In 2022, country-level scores ranged from 96 in Tajikistan to 49 in Liberia. Neither one of these countries had been ranked in these positions before, as Singapore and Afghanistan had been the best and worst scorers, respectively, for years.
Liberia’s low score was attributed chiefly to the high number of residents who have experienced money or household crime and a lack of faith in the country’s police. Overall, the world scored 83 out of 100 on the 2022 Law and Order Index, reflecting no change from 2021.
