International. Cities in China are under the world's heaviest CCTV surveillance, according to a new analysis by Comparitech. However, some residents living in cities in the US, the UK, the UAE, Australia and India will also be surrounded by a lot of watchful eyes, as the study on the number of public CCTV cameras in 120 cities around the world found.
To highlight, Salvador of Brazil, is the only Latin American city within the top 50 list.
The digital age has increased the prevalence of CCTV surveillance.
Some key findings from the report:
- Eight of the 10 most monitored cities are in China
- London and Atlanta were the only cities outside of China to reach the top 10
- By 2022, China is projected to have one public CCTV camera for every two people.
- Little correlation was found between the number of public CCTV cameras and crime or security.
According to the number of cameras per 1,000 people, these cities are the 20 most monitored in the world:
- Chongqing. China - 2,579,890 cameras for 15,354,067 people = 168.03 cameras per 1,000 people
- Shenzhen. China - 1,929,600 cameras for 12,128,721 people = 159.09 cameras per 1,000 people
- Shanghai. China - 2,985,984 cameras for 26,317,104 people = 113.46 cameras per 1,000 people
- Tianjin. China - 1,244,160 cameras for 13,396,402 people = 92.87 cameras per 1,000 people
- Ji'nan. China - 540,463 cameras for 7,321,200 people = 73.82 cameras per 1,000 people
- London. England (United Kingdom): 627,707 cameras for 9,176,530 people = 68,40 cameras per 1,000 people
- Wuhan. China: 500,000 cameras for 8,266,273 people = 60.49 cameras per 1,000 people
- Guangzhou. China: 684,000 cameras for 12,967,862 people = 52.75 cameras per 1,000 people
- Beijing. China: 800,000 cameras for 20,035,455 people = 39.93 cameras per 1,000 people
- Atlanta. USA: 7,800 cameras for 501,178 people = 15.56 cameras per 1,000 people
- Singapore - 86,000 cameras for 5,638,676 people = 15.25 cameras per 1,000 people
- Abu Dhabi. United Arab Emirates: 20,000 cameras for 1,452,057 people = 13.77 cameras per 1,000 people
- Chicago. USA - 35,000 cameras for 2,679,044 people = 13.06 cameras per 1,000 people
- Urumqi. China - 43,394 cameras for 3,500,000 people = 12.40 cameras per 1,000 people
- Sydney. Australia: 60,000 cameras for 4,859,432 people = 12.35 cameras per 1,000 people
- Baghdad. Iraq - 120,000 cameras for 9,760,000 people = 12.30 cameras per 1,000 people
- Dubai. United Arab Emirates: 35,000 cameras for 2,883,079 people = 12.14 cameras per 1,000 people
- Moscow. Russia: 146,000 cameras for 12,476,171 people = 11.70 cameras per 1,000 people
- Berlin. Germany - 39,765 cameras for 3,556,792 people = 11.18 cameras per 1,000 people
- New Delhi. India - 179,000 cameras for 18,600,000 people = 9.62 cameras per 1,000 people
41. Savior. Brazil - 7,300 cameras for 2,857,329 people = 2.55 cameras per 1,000 people.
The full list can be seen on the Comparitech site.
