by PAUL BISCHOFF
Cities in China are under the heaviest CCTV surveillance in the world, according to a new analysis by Comparitech. However, this is only based upon cameras per 1,000 people.
This year, we’ve expanded our study to look at the number of cameras per square mile with Delhi, London, and Chennai all having more cameras per square mile than any Chinese city we covered. Residents living in cities across the US, Russia, Mexico, and South Korea will also find themselves surrounded by a large number of watchful eyes, as our look at the number of public CCTV cameras in the 150 most populated cities worldwide found.
Comparitech 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. We focused primarily on public CCTV—cameras used by government entities such as law enforcement.
Here are our key findings:
- 16 out of the top 20 most surveilled cities (based on the number of cameras per 1,000 people) are in China. London, Indore, Hyderabad, and Delhi were the only cities outside of China to make the top 20, taking third, fourth, twelfth, and sixteenth place respectively
- 11 out of the top 20 most surveilled cities (based on the number of cameras per square mile) are in China. Delhi, London, Chennai, Singapore, Seoul, Moscow, New York, Mumbai, and Mexico City all feature within the top twenty. Delhi, London, and Chennai all have more cameras per square mile than any Chinese city
- By the end of this year, 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
- We found little correlation between the number of public CCTV cameras and crime or safety
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The 20 most surveilled cities in the world – cameras per person
Based on the number of cameras per 1,000 people, these cities are the top 20 most surveilled in the world:
- Taiyuan, China – 465,255 cameras for 3,975,985 people = 117.02 cameras per 1,000 people
- Wuxi, China – 300,000 cameras for 3,315,113 people = 90.49 cameras per 1,000 people
- London, England (UK) – 691,000 cameras for 9,425,622 people = 73.31 cameras per 1,000 people
- Indore, India – 200,600 cameras per 3,113,445 people = 64.43 cameras per 1,000 people
- Changsha, China – 262,000 cameras for 4,694,722 people = 55.81 cameras per 1,000 people
- Beijing, China – 1,150,000 cameras for 20,896,820 people = 55.03 cameras per 1,000 people
- Hangzhou, China – 400,000 cameras for 7,845,501 people = 50.98 cameras per 1,000 people
- Qingdao, China – 262,000 cameras for 5,742,486 people = 45.62 cameras per 1,000 people
- Kunming, China – 200,000 cameras for 4,550,831 people = 43.95 cameras per 1,000 people
- Xiamen, China – 150,000 cameras for 3,790,792 people = 39.57 cameras per 1,000 people
- Harbin, China – 250,000 cameras for 6,526,439 people = 38.13 cameras per 1,000 people
- Hyderabad, India – 375,000 cameras for 10,268,653 people = 36.52 cameras per 1,000 people
- Suzhou, China – 270,000 cameras for 7,427,096 people = 36.35 cameras per 1,000 people
- Shanghai, China – 1,000,000 cameras for 27,795,702 people = 35.98 cameras per 1,000 people
- Urumqi, China – 160,000 cameras for 4,543,684 people = 35.21 cameras per 1,000 people
- Delhi, India – 551,500 cameras for 16,349,831 people = 33.73 cameras per 1,000 people
- Chengdu, China – 310,000 cameras for 9,305,116 people = 33.32 cameras per 1,000 people
- Shenzhen, China – 400,000 cameras for 12,591,696 people = 31.77 cameras per 1,000 people
- Ji’nan, China – 160,000 cameras for 5,513,597 people = 29.02 cameras per 1,000 people
- Shenyang, China – 200,000 cameras for 7,373,655 people = 27.12 cameras per 1,000 people
Comparitech for more