Abu Dhabi: The Saudi capital Riyadh has been ranked fifth in the Arab world for the number of closed-circuit TV surveillance cameras, “CCTVs”, with 20 cameras per million people, according to a study conducted by Compareitech Research Site.
CCTVs serve many purposes, ranging from crime prevention to traffic monitoring to observing industrial operations in environments not suitable for humans. The digital age has boosted the prevalence of CCTV surveillance.
The study revealed that Cities in China are under the heaviest CCTV surveillance in the world. However, some residents living in cities across the UK and India will also find themselves surrounded by a large number of watchful eyes.
Researchers collated a number of data resources and reports, including government reports, police websites, and news articles, to get some idea of the number of CCTV cameras in use in 150 major cities across the globe. Here are the key findings:
18 out of the top 20 most surveilled cities are in China.
London and Hyderabad were the only cities outside of China to make the top 20, with London taking third place and Hyderabad sixteenth.
By 2021, over one billion surveillance cameras will be installed worldwide, according to IHS Markit’s latest report.
Globally, there are already 770 million cameras in use with 54% of these being in China.
The 20 most surveilled cities in the world:
Taiyuan, China – 465,255 cameras for 3,891,127 people = 119.57 cameras per 1,000 people.
Wuxi, China – 300,000 cameras for 3,256,020 people = 92.14 cameras per 1,000 people.
London, England (UK) – 627,727 cameras for 9,304,016 people = 67.47 cameras per 1,000 people.
Changsha, China – 260,000 cameras for 4,577,723 people = 56.80 cameras per 1,000 people.
Beijing, China – 1,150,000 cameras for 20,462,610 people = 56.20 cameras per 1,000 people.
Hangzhou, China – 400,000 cameras for 7,642,147 people = 52.34 cameras per 1,000 people.
Kunming, China – 200,000 cameras for 4,443,186 people = 45.01 cameras per 1,000 people.
Qingdao, China – 250,000 cameras for 5,619,977 people = 44.48 cameras per 1,000 people.
Xiamen, China – 150,000 cameras for 3,720,141 people = 40.32 cameras per 1,000 people.
Harbin, China – 250,000 cameras for 6,387,195 people = 39.14 cameras per 1,000 people.
Suzhou, China – 270,000 cameras for 7,069,992 people = 38.19 cameras per 1,000 people.Shanghai, China – 1,000,000 cameras for 27,058,480 people = 39.96 cameras per 1,000 people.
Urumqi, China – 160,000 cameras for 4,368,865 people = 36.62 cameras per 1,000 people.
Chengdu, China – 310,000 cameras for 9,135,768 people = 33.93 cameras per 1,000 people.
Shenzhen, China – 400,000 cameras for 12,356,820 people = 32.37 cameras per 1,000 people.
Hyderabad, India – 300,000 cameras for 10,004,144 people = 29.99 cameras per 1,000 people.
Ji’nan, China – 160,000 cameras for 5,360,185 people = 29.85 cameras per 1,000 people.
Shenyang, China – 200,000 cameras for 7,220,104 people = 27.70 cameras per 1,000 people.
Hefei, China – 113,795 cameras for 4,241,514 people = 26.83 cameras per 1,000 people.
Tianjin, China – 350,000 cameras for 13,589,078 people = 25.76 cameras per 1,000 people.
Arab world’s most heavily surveilled cities:
Iraq’s capital of Baghdad 16,800 cameras per million people.
Morocco’s city of Casablanca has 760 cameras per million people.
Sudan’s capital of Khartoum has 690 cameras per million people.
Egypt’s capital of Cairo has 40 per million people.
Saudi Arabia’s capital of Riyadh 20 cameras per million people.
