• Today, most cities worldwide are under surveillance with thousands to millions of CCTV cameras.

• China remains the most surveilled country in the world.

• The study refutes the claim that CCTV camera density reduces or prevents crime rates.

Since the introduction of CCTV systems in 1927, the number of surveillance cameras has significantly increased. Globally, an estimate of over one billion CCTV cameras exists today. The advancing technology has boosted its use, making them cheaper and powerful. This enables them to become more advantageous than before.

According to the fresh analysis of the most surveilled cities worldwide by PrivacySavvy, a digital privacy and security resource center, several cities worldwide are under heavy CCTV surveillance.

Most cities in China tend to be the most surveilled than other countries. Taiyuan is the most surveilled, followed by Wuxi, Changsha, Beijing, and Hangzhou.

Yet, London in England, UK, is the third most surveilled city behind Wuxi. According to the latest data collected by PrivacySavvy.com, India’s Hyderabad city is also among the most surveilled city according to given statistics.

Critical CCTV surveillance statistics at a glance

• China comprises 56% of all CCTV cameras in the world.

• China has 18 of the leading 20 most surveilled cities.

• New York leads with the highest density of US’s CCTV cameras.

• Hyderabad has the highest density of India’s CCTV cameras.

• Taiyuan has more cameras per 1000 people than any other city globally.

• London is the third city in the most surveilled cities list.

Singapore, Russia’s St. Petersburg, Iraq’s Baghdad city, and Los Angeles in the US are among the top 50 most surveilled cities globally. Concerning CCTV density, Tokyo in Japan leads with 3.04 CCTVs/1000 people in most populated cities. India’s Delhi city follows with 35.81 and China’s Shanghai with 41.62. Typically, most populated cities are not highly surveilled, according to the study.

CCTV cameras and crime index correlation

It is argued that the presence of CCTV cameras tends to reduce or prevent crime. Based on the PrivacySavvy report, CCTV camera density in a given city fails to reduce or prevent crime. This is because cities with most cameras do not show a correlation with reduced crime rates.

China is the most surveilled nation worldwide

In 2019, the IHS Markit report suggested that about 54% of the world’s CCTV cameras are in China. With an increase to 56% today, according to PrivacySavvy research, china has over 500 million cameras. Notably, nine out of the top ten most surveilled cities are in China. For instance, Taiyuan has nearly 4.2 million cameras with 3.9 million people, meaning eight people per camera.

Here are the most surveilled cities globally on the number of CCTV cameras per 1,000 people (under most recent population numbers), according to PrivacySavvy:

City

Country

Number of CCTVs

Population

CCTVs/1000 people

Taiyuan

China

482,256

4,199,289

114.84

Wuxi

China

312,531

4,266,320

73.25

London

England (UK)

631,627

9,604,956

65.76

Changsha

China

285,000

4,977,713

57.25

Beijing

China

1,310,213

21,402,910

61.21

Hangzhou

China

510,414

7,942,140

64.26

Kunming

China

312,000

4,843,276

64.41

Qingdao

China

374,426

5,919,277

63.25

Xiamen

China

221,345

4,120,191

59.50

Harbin

China

310,000

6,687,145

53.72

Media Contact
Company Name: PrivacySavvy
Contact Person: Ali Qamar
Email: Send Email
City: London
Country: United Kingdom
Website: https://privacysavvy.com/

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