Myth debunked: Jozi is not the world’s most-violent city
19-11-2014

 

The Mexico’s Citizens’ Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice has released a list of 50 of the most-violent cities in the world and, guess what, Johannesburg is not among them.
 

Instead, the ranking features three other South African cities. Cape Town, with an average of 50.94 murders per 100 000 residents, is No 20 on the list. The other two are Port Elizabeth on No 42, with 35.76 murders per 100 000 residents, and Durban on No 49, with 32.42 murders per 100 000 residents.
 

Earlier this week, it was revealed by the 2014 Good City Index that Johannesburg was the second-most inspiring city in the world – behind Hong Kong.

According to the index’s report, some of the things that swayed the judges’ votes Johannesburg’s way included the urban regeneration projects the City was undertaking such as cycle lanes in Soweto, a mixed-use development in the once-rundown area of Newtown and work done on the Johannesburg Art Fair.
 

Johannesburg scored highly in all the categories the judges use to rank the cities, such as hub of progress, city engagement, street life, defining moments, connectivity, green life, diversity and work-life balance.
 

This came in the same month that the highly acclaimed MasterCard Global Destination Cities Index announced that Johannesburg was set to become the most popular destination city in Africa for the second year in a row in 2014.

The city was expected to attract a total of 4.3 million international overnight visitors and international visitor expenditure in excess of $3.3 billion (R35.5 billion) this year.
 

The Mexico’s Citizens’ Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice’s study rates San Pedro Sula in Honduras as the most-violent city in the world, with 187.14 murders per 100 000 residents, followed by Caracas in Venezuela (134.36) and Acapulco in Mexico (112.8).
 

In fact, San Pedro Sula’s murder rate shows a dramatic increase compared with last year’s figures. In 2013, the city recorded 169 murders per 100 000 residents. 
 

Other cities in the Top 10 of the world’s most-violent urban neighbourhoods are Cali in Colombia (83.2), Maceió in Brazil (79.76) Distrito Central in Honduras (79.42), Fortaleza in Brazil (72.81), Guatemala City in Guatemala (68.4), João Pessoa in Brazil (66.92) and Barquisimeto in Venezuela (64.72).

The figures don’t include deaths in war zones or cities where data were unavailable.