Abu Dhabi Named Safest City on Earth: Why it Bodes Well for the Local Ecosystem
Being the safest city on Earth is sure to attract expats and tourists, but it will also have investors keeping a close eye on the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
It’s official - Abu Dhabi has been named the safest city on Earth. The news will probably come as little surprise to some, especially considering that this is the fifth time in a row that the emirate has been awarded this title. It’s low crime rate of 11.5 percent has cemented the UAE’s capital as an ideal destination for expats and tourists, but for investors too. According to the global statistics database, Numbeo’s Quality of Life Index 2021, Abu Dhabi is 88.5 percent safe, the highest rate in the world of all the 431 cities included in the ranking.
One might beg the question of why safety is an important issue to look at for investors. In essence, low crime rates are one of the biggest contributing factors for high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs), meaning that when investors look for opportunities abroad this is something they take into consideration.
Over the last 20 years, HNWIs have been steadily flocking to Abu Dhabi. So much so, that it's been one of the world’s largest recipients of high-net-worth migrators coming in at over 25,000 people from 2010 to 2020.
Abu Dhabi’s ecosystem is very aware of its position on the world stage and there hasn’t been any lack in perpetuating it through a number of different initiatives and projects with international partners. This month, the Abu Dhabi Investment Office announced that it had partnered with Microsoft to roll out a series of programmes for startups in Abu Dhabi. Elsewhere, Injazat recently announced a partnership with South Korean startup Hub, Born2Global, while Hub71 is currently enjoying its own partnership with French national investment Bank, Bpifrance, which will seek to establish a link between tech ecosystems of Abu Dhabi and Paris. It’s even become an ideal place for startups from across the world to get a foothold in the region, and we’ve seen the likes of Nanoracks, the largest commercial user of the International Space Station and the company behind the first-ever commercial agritech space research programme, set-up shop in Abu Dhabi.
