The key findings from the expanded and updated SCI this year include:



Tokyo again comes first overall, and Asia-Pacific cities make up six of the top ten, but geographic region does not have a statistical link with results. As it did in the previous SCI, Tokyo has the highest overall score in our index. Other cities in the top ten are Singapore (2nd), Osaka (3rd), Sydney (5th), Seoul (tied 8th) and Melbourne (10th). Two European cities are in this group, Amsterdam (4th) and Copenhagen (tied 8th), while two from America complete it, Toronto (6th) and Washington, DC (7th). However, a closer look at the important correlates of security, discussed below, found city safety is not related to global region: Tokyo, Singapore and Osaka lead because of their specific strengths, not because they happen to be in Asia

The results in individual index pillars show the importance of getting the basics right. Leo Tolstoy famously wrote, “All happy families are alike: each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” A look at the top five cities in each pillar—digital, health, infrastructure and personal security—yields a similar message. In each area, leading cities got the basics right, be it easy access to high-quality healthcare, dedicated cyber-security teams, community-based police patrolling or disaster continuity planning. Even among the leaders, the weaknesses of those not in first place tended to vary from city to city. Those who want to improve need to get the basics in place and then consider their own specific situations.