Pietermaritzburg leads as Durban, Tshwane, and Johannesburg rank among the world's most dangerous cities
Durban was named sixth in a global Crime Index for being a high-crime city.
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Pietermaritzburg has been named as the city with the highest perceived crime levels in a global crime index, which ranked Pretoria second, Johannesburg fifth and Durban came in at sixth.
The international Crime Index is published by data platform Numbeo, with South African cities dominating the upper reaches of the global list.
Taking the third and fourth places on the index are Caracas in Venezuela and Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea.
South African cities ranked among the first 20
Pietermaritzburg — Rank 1 (Crime Index: 82.8) The KwaZulu-Natal capital tops the global list, recording the highest crime perception score worldwide.
Pretoria — Rank 2 (81.8) The administrative capital ranks second globally, reflecting sustained concerns around robberies, vehicle-related crime and personal safety, particularly after dark.
Johannesburg — Rank 5 (80.8) South Africa’s economic hub continues to struggle with its international reputation, with high perceptions of both violent and organised crime influencing its ranking.
Durban — Rank 6 (80.4) Durban’s position highlights ongoing safety concerns in the metro, particularly relating to mugging, car hijacking and nighttime security, despite pockets of urban regeneration.
Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth) — Rank 8 (78.6) The Eastern Cape metro remains among the world’s highest-ranked cities for crime perception, with residents citing persistent property crime and assault concerns.
Cape Town — Rank 16 (73.7) Despite being a major tourism destination, Cape Town features prominently on the list, reflecting sharp contrasts between affluent areas and high-crime communities.
How the index is compiled
Numbeo’s Crime Index is based on user-contributed surveys collected over the past five years. Respondents assess their perceptions of crime levels, personal safety during the day and at night, and concerns about specific offences including robbery, assault, car theft and burglary.
Scores are scaled from 0 to 100, with any score above 80 classified as “very high crime.” The platform uses spam-filtering and contributor thresholds to improve reliability but notes that the index measures perception rather than officially recorded crime.