French cities are perceived as unsafe

Numbeo has been publishing a crime and safety rankings for cities worldwide. The results are based on surveys of website visitors. Numbeo states that the questions are similar to those used in many similar scientific and government surveys. Each survey entry is recorded as a number between -2 and +2. -2 meaning strongly negative and +2 meaning strongly positive.

About Europe, Numbeo confirms that the feeling of insecurity in France is persistent. This is a trend that has been observed for several years. Although this assessment needs to be qualified in the light of official statistics from the Ministry of the Interior. The latter provide a better snapshot of criminal activity and violence in the country.

For the year 2020the data interstats - which bring together and analyse all the Ministry's figures. show a general decline in delinquency and crime. The reason for this is the different confinements. According to official figures, she "sexual violence", "fraud" and "assault and battery" segments are the only ones to be included. are reporting an increase.

2019 is therefore a better benchmark for the state of crime and security in France. That year, the statistics highlighted an upsurge in the "homicide", "assault and battery" and "rape" segments. There was a slight increase in the "non-violent theft from persons" and "theft from vehicles" segments.

Robberies with weapons" and "dwelling burglaries" remained stable in 2019, while "theft of vehicle accessories", "violent unarmed robberies", "vehicle thefts" and "deliberate destruction and damage" fell.

The fact remains that perception of insecurity in French cities is a a real handicap to the image of these towns. This can have a negative impact on their appeal in international circles.

France in the second half of Europe's least safe cities

According to Numbeo, in the ranking of European cities perceived as the safest, French towns are far down the list. On the 158 cities in Europethe following are not available no French city in the top half of the rankings.

In this inglorious ranking, Nice is the safest city in FranceThe Côte d'Azur came in 95th place. The Côte d'Azur metropolis is followed by Bordeaux in 109th position, Lyon in 119th place, Toulouse in 122nd place, Lille in 134th place and finally Paris in 143rd place. Below Paris are Nantes (148th position), Montpellier (153rd place) and finally Marseille (154th position).

Unsurprisingly, the best in class are the Swiss cities. The top 10 includes three Swiss cities: Zurich, Berne and Basel. Two cities are located in Scandinavia (Trondheim in Norway and Aarhus in Denmark).

There are also Munich, Trieste (italy), Groningen (Netherlands), Maribor (Slovenia) and, surprisingly, the town of Yakutsk in Russia. Among the great European capitals, Prague, Vienna and Helsinki are considered the safest. They rank 22nd, 24th and 25th respectively.

Finally, for other major French-speaking cities in Europe, Geneva is in 34th place, Luxembourg 36th place. Lausanne is 55, Liège 121. Whereas Brussels is only just ahead of Paris, in 138th place...