Businesses face widespread security risk in world’s biggest cities, Verisk index shows

Some 22% of the world’s largest cities are running high or extreme security threats to businesses, according to risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft. The most dangerous cities are Kabul, Mogadishu, Cali, Sanaa, Port-au-Prince and Aleppo, but Verisk said very few countries are immune from security risks with several European and US cities seeing a marked threat increase during the past year Of the 100 most dangerous cities in Verisk’s security index, 33 are in the US, 33 in Africa, 19 in Asia, 14 in the Middle East and north Africa region, and one in Europe. “Populations and business will be confronted with acute challenges across the globe,” Verisk says. “This research shows just how widespread the risks remain.” Ukraine’s capital Kyiv now ranks as the riskiest city in Europe, driven by the country’s conflict with Russia. Shizuoka-Hamamatsu in Japan polls as the safest city worldwide, while eight other cities in Japan and Taiwan occupy spaces in the top ten. Zurich in Europe also makes the top ten list of safest cities. Oslo, Porto, Dublin, Rotterdam and Stockholm were ranked in Verisk’s top 20 safest cities. “Long-established security issues remain an important lens through which to understand business risk… companies must ensure that they have a strong grasp of the trends on the ground in cities core to their operations, if they are not to be blindsided by these developments,” Verisk says. But is adds that “it is not as simple as just picking a region” for businesses. “Several European and North American cities have seen a marked increase in risk over the past year,” driven by civil unrest, explains Verisk. “Together, the strain of the Covid-19 pandemic, soaring living costs and the impact of new political and social movements highlight the importance of a granular approach to assessing potential business disruption using geospatial risk data, alongside expert analysis,” says Joseph Parkes, senior security analyst at Verisk Maplecroft. “The precipitous increase in risk in Ukraine following Russia’s invasion also shows you can’t discount the impact of geopolitical upheaval,” he adds. Verisk’s Cities@Risk Security Index, which factors in crime, terrorism, civil unrest and conflict, found that more than 75% of 579 cities with a population in excess of one million face significant challenges from at least one of the four key indices. But Verisk says crime is the most pervasive security threat facing urban populations and businesses. “Companies with global operations must continue to assess their exposure to longstanding security risks such as crime, even as novel threats like climate change and the Covid-19 pandemic rightly move up the agenda,” says Parkes. Latin America is home to 62 of the 100 cities most affected by crime, led by Medellin, Rio de Janeiro and Mexico City. Elsewhere, Cape Town and Johannesburg in South Africa, Baltimore and Memphis in the US, as well as Baghdad in Iraq, were all rated as carrying extreme risk of crime. “US cities perform particularly poorly in comparison to their developed economy peers,” Verisk says. There is “a discrepancy between US cities and their high-income European and east Asian peers”, the report adds. Ukrainian cities Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odessa recorded the sharpest increases in risk on Verisk’s conflict intensity index. Kyiv ranked as the 14th riskiest city for conflict. “Ukraine’s staunch defence – underwritten by weapon transfers from western partners – prevented the city’s fall into Russian hands, but the toll is reflected in its deteriorating risk score,” Verisk says.

Businesses face widespread security risk in world’s biggest cities, Verisk index shows

Several European and US cities have seen a marked risk increase during the past year

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