PETALING JAYA: Despite reports of booming crime rates in the city, Kuala Lumpur may be safer than you think, according to a newly released survey by air charter service Stratos Jet Charters.
In its study, Stratos Jet polled 2,000 people on their perceptions of a city’s safety, comparing these to actual crime data for each city.
It chose a sampling of cities from lists of the most dangerous in the world, the safest in the world, and the most travelled-to in the world.
Perceived danger scores were assigned on a scale of one to five, one being “not dangerous” and five being “very dangerous”.
Kuala Lumpur received a score of 1.86, against its actual crime rate of 4.4 murders per 100,000 residents.
Surprisingly, Singapore received a higher perceived danger score of 2.00 despite its actual crime rate of 0.3 murders per 100,000 residents.
Other major cities included in the survey were Mexico City, Mexico; Istanbul, Turkey; and Bangkok, Thailand.
Mexico City received the highest perceived danger score of 2.85, against its actual crime rate of 8.0 murders per 100,000 residents.
Istanbul followed with a score of 2.61 versus an actual crime rate of 4.7 murders per 100,000 residents. Bangkok, meanwhile, scored 2.39 against an actual crime rate of 4.0 murders per 100,000 residents.
Commenting on its study, Stratos Jet said most travellers stuck to their beliefs on which cities they perceived were the most dangerous, despite concrete data proving otherwise.
“The reality is that some of these so-called ‘deadly destinations’ are a lot safer than you may think.”
Stratos Jet also polled participants on their perceptions of the dangers that supposedly lurked in some cities, assigning the same scale for perceived danger scores.
Tijuana, Mexico, topped the list with a score of 3.12 against an actual crime rate of 39.09 murders per 100,000 residents. Detroit, US, followed, with 2.82 against an actual crime rate of 43.89 murders per 100,000 residents.
In third place was Johannesburg, South Africa, with a perceived danger score of 2.49 against an actual crime rate of 30.31 murders per 100,000 residents, followed by Kingston, Jamaica, with a score of 2.43 against an actual crime rate of 41.14 murders per 100,000 residents.
The US state of New Orleans was last, with a perceived danger score of 1.96 against an actual crime rate of 41.44 murders per 100,000 residents.
When asked how they formed their perceptions on a city’s danger, participants ranked news reports as the number one factor, giving it a score of 3.83 out of 5.
Following close behind was the city’s perceived economic situation (“It’s a poor area”), which they gave 3.54 out of 5.
Other factors included hearsay from family and friends (3.51), crime data and statistics (3.30), the number of homeless people in the area (3.15), actual experiences of those living in the city (3.07), actual experiences of travellers themselves (3.0) and the ethnicity of the people living there (2.3).