Crime is a concern for anyone, but South African cities have a much greater concern than others, according to rankings of survey data of local residents.
Analysing the data, Compare the Market AU found Pietermaritzburg ranked as the most dangerous city in the world, out of a list of 411 locations.
Pietermaritzburg had a ranking of 82.8, the highest in South Africa, and the world (the higher the score out of 100, the higher the concern regarding local crime).
Pretoria had the second-highest score in South Africa and the globe at 81.8.
Johannesburg ranked fifth worldwide and third in South Africa with a score of 80.8.
Durban had a score of 80.4, while Port Elizabeth had an index score of 78.6.
Cape Town was the lowest scoring town in South Africa, but still ranked very highly overall compared to the world’s other cities at a score of 73.7.
Other dangerous cities with high crime index ratings include Caracas in Venezuela (scoring 81.4) and Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea (which scored 81.3).
Adrian Taylor, chief executive of general insurance at Compare the Market, explains that local crime rates can impact the cost of home and contents insurance premiums for residents, even if they haven’t personally been broken into before.
“Insurance costs take risk factors into account, which means if you live in an area that’s seeing crime rates increase, this could lead to you having more expensive home and contents insurance premiums.
“This is especially the case if property crime is a major part of local crime rates, such as break-ins, robberies and theft.”
To learn more about the data, visit: https://www.comparethemarket.com.au/home-contents-insurance/features/dangerous-cities-index/