Chinese cities dominate the top rankings in the global chart of the most surveilled cities, but when excluding China, Seoul rises to the global No. 2 spot, a recent study shows.
Seoul’s cameras density stands at 237.76 cameras per square kilometer, according to data compiled by the cybersecurity firm Comparitech. Excluding China, it is the world’s second most surveilled city, outpaced only by India’s Delhi, which recorded 575 cameras per the same land area. Singapore came in at third place with 142.9 cameras.
By per capita figures, Seoul falls to 7th place, with 14.47 cameras per 1,000 citizens, when excluding China.
The Indian cities of Hyderabad, Indore and Delhi took the top three spots, with 83, 60 and 20 cameras per 1,000, respectively. Singapore came in fourth with 18 cameras.
In comparison, China as a whole had a whopping 439.07 cameras per 1,000, although the study couldn’t provide city-level analysis due to challenges in data access.
The Comparitech report, which analyzed government reports, police websites and news articles, sought to understand the proliferation of security cameras across 150 major cities worldwide, focusing primarily on public surveillance used mainly for crime prevention by law enforcement agencies.
Contrary to common presumptions, it found a low correlation between the prevalence of surveillance cameras and crime rates.
This result is in line with a local study, published last year in the Journal of the Korean Society of Psychometrics, which found an increase in violent crimes in areas of Seoul with higher surveillance camera concentrations. While effective for apprehending criminals, cameras appear less successful in crime prevention, the Korean researchers said.
