Brussels is a safe city
17.03.10 @ 14:35
The scare generated by this sorry episode is unjustified. Prompted by the fears of my partner, a recently arrived Czech official, I consulted Eurostat to find figures for all the cities she's lived in.
Brussels is, in fact, one of Europe's safest cities. Prague has more than twice the homicide rate (40) of Brussels (19) or Budapest (17). The rate per 100,000 people is 3.25 in Prague and 3.22 in Luxembourg - significantly higher than in Brussels (2.94) or Budapest (1.55).
But the real surprise is Frankfurt. The website of the Hessische Polizei lists 37 homicides there in 2009 - a rate of 5.67 per 100 000 people.
Frankfurt, Prague and Luxembourg - all cities with peaceful, bourgeois reputations - are, in fact, significantly more dangerous than louche Brussels.
Yours, Patrick Worms, Waterloo, Belgium
