Jordan ranks 10th safest place for walking alone at night

AMMAN — Jordan ranked fourth regionally and 10th internationally in the list of countries where people feel safest walking alone at night, according to Gallup’s 2022 Global Law and Order Report.

The report tracks people’s sense of security and experiences with law enforcement, measuring countries’ progress towards meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goal centred on peace, justice and strong institution, according to the Gallup website.

Gallup’s 2021 Global Law and Order Report showed that in most economically developed countries and states with strong rule of law, the great majority of people say that they feel safe walking alone at night.

In Jordan, 87 per cent of residents polled feel safe walking alone at night, the report added. Moreover, the Kingdom was in 16th place on the report’s Law and Order Index.

In this regard, the UN’s most recent progress report on its Sustainable Development Goals for 2030 said that “feeling unsafe in public can fundamentally erode one’s sense of well-being and reduce trust and community engagement, becoming an obstacle to development”.

Sociologist Hussein Khozahe told The Jordan Times that “Jordanians have always had confidence in the local police and other security bodies”, adding that people in the Kingdom never doubt the competency of security officials and police officers.

“Law enforcement in Jordan has always been praised regionally and globally, and as Jordanians, we take pride in that,” Mahmoud Momani, 40, told The Jordan Times.

The 2022 update is a result of Gallup’s interviews with nearly 127,000 adults in more than 120 countries and areas, conducted in 2021.