Bangkok is one of the most dangerous cities to live in, study says

By Coconuts Bangkok 

 

 

Bangkok, along with other Coconuts cities including Yangon, Manila, and Jakarta, has been named amongst the most dangerous cities in the world to live in — it ranked near the bottom of the Safe Cities Index by magazine The Economist.

 

The study, which was released this week, analyzed 60 cities in four safety categories including digital, health, infrastructure, and personal security. Bangkok ranked 49th with a score of 60.05 out of a possible score of 100.

 

The Thai capital’s score was dragged down mainly by its personal security issues. Alongside cities such as Karachi, Pakistan; Istanbul, Turkey; and Mumbai, India, Bangkok ranked 4th in the world in terms of how at-risk residents are for crime, violence, and terrorism.

 

Full story: https://coconuts.co/bangkok/news/bangkok-one-dangerous-cities-live-study-says/

 

-- © Copyright Coconuts Bangkok 2017-10-18

While I love living in Thailand, I avoid Bangkok as much as possible.

 

It is nice to have some objective confirmation of my decision...

 

 

Ooo! That won't go down well with TAT and the Junta. I am sure we will hear denials from them in fairly short order, telling us that key factors were incorrectly interpreted and that recent actions by the Government have addressed many of the issues, so that the ranking should be considered unfair and out of date.

....i think statistics are never objective, i lived in bangkok a year long recently and i found it quite save, even i rode a hired 'pun pun' bicycle all the time, i love krung thep...:-)

I didn't need a survey to tell me what I have known for years! 

 

from personal experience phnom penh, jakarta and manila are far worse.

be interesting to understand the criteria, but 20 years in bkk, i have had nary an incident.

It's all in relativity of the matters, sure, if you go looking for troubles

in Bkk you'll find them, you'll find them in the most pious of cities for that

matter, living in BKK for over 30 years now, i have

seen very little evidences of deliberate violence, mostly accidental...  

People in Bangkok and generally in Thailand are great, however, I do find this city generally unsafe. There are a lot of things wrong with it....from sidewalks, roads, electrical, public transport (not mrt/bts) condo constructions.....just too numerous to list.

 

Mind you I really don't mind the excitement as I have the safety of my own country to fall back to, but Bangkok is supposed to be a world class city..

A walking Christmas tree would always be ripe for a picking, whichever city you live in.

 

Dress humble and act humble and you will be fine.

Im resident in Thailand and spend much time in Bangkok. I feel much safer walking around the back streets of Bangkok late at night than I do in any European or US capital city. Behave yourself and your unlikely to have a problem

1 hour ago, HooHaa said:

from personal experience phnom penh, jakarta and manila are far worse.

be interesting to understand the criteria, but 20 years in bkk, i have had nary an incident.

 

tend to agree with that view, Sao Paulo ain't no safe haven either

 

problems with suveys like this one

and Best low cost airline

Best full service airline

Best this hotel

Best that hotel

 

pick any 3 surveys and enjoy 3 different winners

 

 

Thank the Lord for that. Pattaya can take a breather.

 

I'll stick with Chiang Mai any day of the week.

 

I can't comment on digital, but health, infrastucture and personal safety are far better than my hometown of Sydney!

 

No shortage of excellent hospitals, many excellent dentists, world class orthopaedic surgeons.

BTS, MRT, ATM transfers to other people in different banks, excellent mobile coverage, malls, entertainment.

I have never felt threatened living in Bangkok and do not hesitate to go anywhere at any time of the day or night.

 

The same cannot be said for Sydney or any other Australian capital city.

I disagree with this as looking at the statistics of Pattaya, Phuket, etc. these are far more dangerous cities with far more fatalities and physical injuries happening than bangkok.

1 hour ago, HooHaa said:

from personal experience phnom penh, jakarta and manila are far worse.

be interesting to understand the criteria, but 20 years in bkk, i have had nary an incident.

 

I don't know PP but agree with you about Manila and Jakarta being far worse.

 

But there are certain parts of some big cities in the UK where I wouldn't want to go!

I have visited Bangkok 5 or 6 times each year for the past 11 years and have lived there for almost 2 years....

I roam about at all hours in various parts of the city.

I've never experienced the slightest problem..... 

 

Melbourne comes in as the 5th safest, Sydney 7th safest yet Bangkok 12th most dangerous - l feel 100x more safe walking around Bangkok late at night than I would in either Sydney or Melbourne. 

2 hours ago, webfact said:

Bangkok is one of the most dangerous

It's not true, a Thai expert said weeks ago Thailand was a safe country.

My view is that your safety is MOSTLY the product of your own personal choices and behavior.  I have lived in this city for ten years in the Victory Monument area and though I have taken long nighttime walks between 9pm and 1am I have never even encountered an instance of a threat to my safety.  

I am now in my 70’s and really rather defenseless so I have chosen to do my walking earlier.  

Living in Bangkok 24 years. Feel much safer than Pattaya, Toronto, Vancouver, Miami, Rotterdam, Detroit, Toledo .... most dangerous I'd say was when I lived in Kuala Lumpur.  Another unscientific survey I'm sure.    

I’ve found Bangkok relatively safe,except when useing a zebra crossing.

more drivel from the economist. Bangkok is very safe as far as violent crimes are concerned in comparison to nearly any major City in the West. 

27 minutes ago, midasthailand said:

The same cannot be said for Sydney or any other Australian capital city.

The capital of Australia is Canberra.  However, I have a relation that has lived in Sydney, Perth, on the Gold Coast and currently living in Adelaide.  All large cities throughout the world are very similar; if you go looking for trouble, you'll find it.  I've lived in Bangkok for a few years and had no problems at all.  And yet, I have stayed the odd week in the sticks, and have witnessed WW3 almost break-out for hardly no reason whatsoever.

 

In general, Thailand isn't a country that I would refer to as a safe place to live.  But, where is these days.

I know the news section of this forum is mostly about bashing Thailand, but Bangkok (or Pattaya) aren't even close to being actually dangerous when compared to pretty much every major city in South America.

 

I've been living in Pattaya for over 6 years and I haven't known anyone that has been robbed under gunpoint, or someone that had their house invaded and their families made hostage (under gunpoint again).

 

In Brazil, it's quite the opposite, pretty much every person I know has been robbed under life threat (violence/knife/gun), family members have been shot and I have a friend who was killed in an attempted robbery. And all that was in São Paulo, one of the LEAST violent of the 27 state capitals in Brazil. 

 

Here in Pattaya (or Bangkok) the only safety concern I have when walking around are the stray dogs, and maybe the occasional motorbike coming from the wrong way. 

Whay nonsense. The only farang getting killed are balcony flyers.

I have never considered Bangkok dangerous in terms of potential physical assault or robbery. However I think it can be extremely hazardous in other respects , wires hanging everywhere , crazy drivers and zero respect for pedestrians spring to mind.

 

2 hours ago, darksidedog said:

Ooo! That won't go down well with TAT and the Junta. I am sure we will hear denials from them in fairly short order, telling us that key factors were incorrectly interpreted and that recent actions by the Government have addressed many of the issues, so that the ranking should be considered unfair and out of date.

You are right. My 1st thought was: oh oh, that means 14 hours shifts and no day off for 2 weeks for all members of the "TAT Counter & Correct News Task Force"

That's funny; I thought the TAT swore it was close to the top.

Putting Amsterdam, Sydney, Stockholm and Melbourne in the top 10 says everything about this 'survey' - pure propagandistic BS!

 

In terms of personal safety (unless you drive a motorbike) Bangkok outclasses the above cities by light years.