Davao City ranks as 9th safest in the world

DAVAO CITY–Davao City is the 9th safest in world according to data released by crowd-sourced rating site Numbeo.com and is the country’s most child-friendly based on a government ranking.

In its information update of world’s safest cities, dated April 30, 2015, Numbeo said Davao City has a safety index of 80.69 or a crime index of 19.31.

Screengrab from numbeo.com

It was even safer than Stuttgart, Germany (80.65), Abu Dhabi (80.41), Hong Kong (79.97) or Bern, Switzerland (80.30).

Topping the Numbeo list of safest cities was Osaka, Japan with 89.26; followed by Munich, Germany with 83.57; Stavanger, Norway with 83.14; Singapore, Singapore with 82.93; Bursa, Turkey with 82.71; Heidelberg, Germany with 82.47; Seoul, South Korea with 82.27; and Bergen, Norway with 80.98.

READ: Duterte tells criminals: Leave Davao City vertically or horizontally

Numbeo also came out with its most dangerous cities in the world based on crime index and it was topped by Port Moresby in Papua, New Guinea with a safety rating of 6.94, followed by Pietermaritzburg in South Africa with a safety rating of 11.81.

Numbeo, according to Wikipedia, is the world’s largest database of user-contributed data about cities and countries worldwide on such topics as living conditions including cost of living, housing indicators, health care, traffic, crime and pollution.

Numbeo started its data collection service in April 2009 and has become the source of some data cited in reports by major publications such as Forbes, Time, The Economist, The New York Times and the British Broadcasting Corp.

In August 2014, Internet traffic monitor, Alexa, rated Numbeo as among the top 10,000 websites.

Child-friendly cities

Just last month, Davao City also bagged the Presidential Award for the Most Child Friendly City for highly-urbanized city category, besting Olongapo, Butuan, Bacolod and Mandaluyong, according to Ma. Luisa Bermudo, the city’s social welfare chief.

Liwayway Caligdong, assistant city social welfare chief, said this was the third time that Davao City won the award.

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The city was also given the Presidential Award in 1998 and 1999.

Caligdong said Davao’s best advantage over the other cities was the passage of the Children’s Welfare Code, which prohibits minors from traveling without their parents or legal guardians.

The Council for the Welfare of Children (CWC), which gives out the award, also feted the General Santos City government the 2014 Seal of Child-Friendly Local Governance (CFLG).

The CFLGA is a mandatory audit system created by the Department of Interior and Local Government in partnership with the Department of Education and the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

“I am glad that they have noticed our efforts in making the local government child-friendly. We will make sure that we will continue to deliver services that will benefit our children and youth,” Mayor Ronnel Rivera said.

Rivera’s administration has been implementing the CLEAN Gensan (Creating a Livable Environment for All Generals towards Nation-building) program, focusing on improving services in the areas of education, health, and social services.

There also other child-friendly programs such as enhanced Early Childhood Care Development Initiative (ECCDI), Community Teach, and Project Modelo to further promote the rights of the children towards quality education, he said.

City government employees have also taken part in building additional classrooms through the “Piso Ko, Klasrum Mo” program, shelling out one peso each month for construction of classrooms. Allan Nawal, Inquirer Mindanao