I have followed BajaBlanca's post with particular interest, as we have traveled to Spain and stayed in Barcelona. With the talk of crime in Barcelona
from Bajablanca's post, I researched just how the crime in Europe stacks up and I put together some statistics that I discovered. Other European
cities as well as San Diego and Mexico City are included for comparison. Sorry that the chart doesn't post well here.
Some observations from the statistics.........relative to Barcelona
Of all the cities listed only Madrid and Frankfurt have lower (better) crime ratings. On the safety ratings (higher is better) again only Madrid and
Frankfurt have higher ratings, even San Diego is lower than Barcelona.
In the Quality of life index Frankfurt tops the list with San Diego second. The Cities with lower QOL than Barcelona are: Paris, Rome, and Mexico
City.
No doubt it's a mixed bag. Compared to many of the major cities in Europe Barcelona does not stand out as particularly high in "Crime" in general.
Pick pocketing is a major problem there no doubt, but one that can be mitigated by being proactive. When we were there we used front pocket wallets
and hid our passports in belt-pouches. I was always cognizant of my camera bag worth thousands. One quick story, while driving from Barcelona to
San Sebastian I noticed that my camera tripod was missing. Mind you it is an expensive one. We figured the only place it could be was in our hotel
room from the night before, a long day's drive. We called them and sure enough it was there waiting for us. We picked it up 4 days later on our
return drive to Barcelona.
Much like the numerous discussions of crime in Mexico, most here accept the risks, take precautions, and try to enjoy an area of the world we love. I
feel the same about Spain and Barcelona in particular. I would visit again, knowing the risks involved.
BajaBlanca's misfortune there was a shame, as it tainted what should have been a memorable visit. You were very lucky not to have your passports
stolen. That happened to my mother while traveling in Buenos Aires years ago and it was a major disruption to her trip!
City Comparison Chart
City Crime Safety Quality of Life
San Diego 43.26 56.74 191.56
Mexico City 65.71 34.29 49.48
Barcelona 42.11 57.89 93.26
Brussels 52.85 47.15 111.71
Frankfurt 29.96 70.04 210.97
London 46.57 53.43 97.09
Madrid 35.6 64.4 111.9
Paris 54.9 45.1 88.14
Rome 55.98 44.02 27.65
Crime Ratings very low low moderate high very high
<20 20-40 40-60 60-80 >80
I never believe ANY statistics I read about crime in Mexico. So much goes unreported.
That's true. However, when the reported statistics are bad, which they are, you know that in at least the urban areas, Mexico is REALLY bad compared
to the US.
Mexico probably compares favorably with poverty stricken US urban areas. Just a guess, too lazy to look it up.
[Edited on 6-5-2015 by SFandH]Sandlefoot - 6-5-2015 at 10:26 AM
