I found some interesting numbers while searching for some information yesterday.

Canada's police services reported 605 homicides in 2006, 58 fewer than the previous year. As a result, the national homicide rate fell to 1.85 homicides per 100,000 population.
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TEN WORST LARGE US CITIES FOR MURDER, 2002

City/ Murders per 100,000 population

1) Washington, DC..... 45.8
(2) Detroit..........42.0
(3) Baltimore........38.3
(4) Memphis..........24.7
(5) Chicago..........22.2
(6) Philadelphia.....19.0
(7) Columbus.........18.1
(8) Milwaukee........18.0
(9) Los Angeles......17.5
(10) Dallas..........15.8

TEN SAFEST LARGE US CITIES FOR MURDER, 2002*

City/ Murders per 100,000 population
(1) Honolulu.....2.0
(2) El Paso.......2.4
(3) San Jose.......3.1
(4) Austin........3.7
(5) San Diego ......3.8
(6) Portland.......3.9
(7) Seattle........4.5
(8) New York.......7.3
(9) San Francisco......3
(10) Oklahoma City......8.5

ELECTED WORST CITIES
MURDER (LATE-1990s)
EUROPE AND USA
CITY

MURDERS PER 100,000
(1) Washington, D.C., USA 69.3
(2) Philadelphia, USA 27.4
(3) Dallas, USA 24.8
(4) Los Angeles, USA 22.8
(5) Chicago, USA 20.5
(6) Phoenix, USA 19.1
(7) Moscow, Russia 18.1
(8) Houston, USA 18.0
(9) New York City, USA 16.8
(10) Helsinki, Finland 12.5
(11) Lisbon, Portugal 9.7
(12) San Diego, USA 8.0
(13) Amsterdam, Netherlands 7.7
(14) Belfast, N.Ireland, UK 4.4
(15) Geneva, Switzerland 4.2
(16) Copenhagen, Denmark 4.0
(17) Berlin, Germany 3.8
(18) Paris, France 3.3
(19) Stockholm, Sweden 3.0
(20) Prague, Czechoslovakia 2.9
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* The highest murder rate for any Canadian city was Regina (Pop. 201,554) with 3.47 murders per 100,000 people, making it safer than all but 3 of the cities of similar or greater size in the US. Canada's worst is near the safest of the US. Nice.

Now I feel better living out in the sticks!

Murder Rates
(move the decimal two places to the right to get the rates per 100,000)

'Personal Safety Index

1. Luxembourg 131.4

2. Bern 126.3

2. Geneva 126.3

2. Helsinki 126.3

2. Zurich 126.3

6. Vienna` 121.1

7. Oslo 120.8

7. Stockholm 120.8

9. Singapore 120.2

10. Auckland 119.4

10. Wellington 119.4



22. Vancouver 115.8'

Vancouver Sun

Edit; here's the actual survey itself - Quality of Living global city rankings – Mercer survey

From your second link, NNN:

Canadian cities dominate the rankings in the Americas. Vancouver (4) has the best quality of living followed by Toronto (15), Ottawa (19) and Montreal (22). In the US, after Honolulu (28) comes San Francisco (29), Boston (37) and Chicago (44). Washington, DC, ranks 44, above New York (49).

In terms of personal safety, Canadian cities again perform best with Calgary, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver all ranked jointly at 22. In the US, Chicago, Honolulu, Houston, Lexington, San Francisco and Winston-Salem all share rank 53.


I think people in British Columbia have a healthier lifesyle than in many other parts of Canada, partly due to the more temperate climate.

And all the sushi.

"I think people in British Columbia have a healthier lifesyle than in many other parts of Canada, partly due to the more temperate climate."

Fewer polar bears, too, but that may change wit the melting of the polar ice cap. (But there is no global warmimg the melting is not due to human activity!)

I was right about British Columbians being healthier. Doesn't look good for Ontarians though:

Canada's fattest and fittest