If you’re planning on heading south of our border soon, you should know that Latin America ranks lowest in the world on personal security, according to a recent report from Gallup, the global research firm.
Gallup’s Law and Order Index ranks 150 countries on a scale from 0 to 100 based on confidence in local police, feelings of personal safety and self-reported incidence of theft.
The Latin America and Caribbean region score of 56 was the lowest of all major regions of the world. The Southeast Asia and East Asia regions are the safest, with equal scores of 80 on the index.
Personal security is lowest in Venezuela, which scores just 41 on the Law and Order Index. Just 19 percent of Venezuelans say they feel safe walking alone at night in the city or area where they live. Only 26 percent express confidence in the local police and 22 percent report that money has been stolen from them or another household member in the last 12 months.
The worst countries on the index after Venezuela, in ascending order, are Bolivia, Peru, Paraguay, Dominican Republic, Brazil, Honduras, Argentina, Guatemala and Haiti.
Gallup reports that eight out of 10 countries with the highest homicide rates in the world are located in this region, which accounts for about 36 percent of all murders globally. Honduras lays claim to “murder capital of the world” with just over 90 homicides per 100,000 population.
And now the good news from south of our border: Nicaragua scores a 67 on the index, which is a 9 percent improvement from 2009, the last year Gallup measured personal security.
Other safer countries in the region are, in descending order behind Nicaragua, Panama, Chile, Ecuador, Uruguay, Jamaica, Colombia, Costa Rica, Trinidad & Tobago and El Salvador.
Mexico, which continues to take the brunt of negative U.S. media crime coverage, is in the middle of the pack with a 59 rating on the index. In a hopeful sign, Mexico improves 6 percent over 2009.
Other regional index scores are the United States and Canada (79), Europe (77), South Asia (70), the Middle East and North Africa (65) and Sub-Saharan Africa (59).