Abu Dhabi has been named the safest city in the Middle East and one of the 25 safest cities in the world, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Safe Cities Index 2015.

The index, which takes into account digital security, health security, infrastructure safety and personal safety, ranked the UAE capital 25th globally.

Abu Dhabi beat Doha, at number 29 and Riyadh at number 46, with the UAE capital scoring strongly in digital security and infrastructure safety. There was no place for Dubai in the list which ranked 50 cities in total.

Globally, Tokyo, the most populous city in the world, took the top spot, followed by Singapore, Osaka, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Sydney, Zurich, Toronto, Melbourne and New York.

In terms of personal safety, evaluated in terms of prevalence of violent crime, the role of police, and how secure residents are from theft and violence, Abu Dhabi was ranked 32nd, behind Doha at 14th.

Cities in developed countries dominated the top half of the Index, while developing world cities tended to fill the bottom 25 positions, although there are notable exceptions.

Abu Dhabi was the only wealthy Middle Eastern city to make it into the top half while Rome and Milan, Italy’s capital and commercial capital respectively, were the only two European or North American cities to feature in the bottom half of the index.

The index’s 50 cities were selected based on factors such as their prominence in the region and the availability of data. Each of the four categories included up to eight sub-indicators, divided between inputs, such as policy and government spending, and outputs, such as pedestrian deaths, air quality, and corruption.

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