Ecuadorians are least likely worldwide to say they feel safe
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Ecuadorian Army soldiers patrol in Duran, next to Guayaquil, Ecuador, on June 19. Photo: Gerardo Menoscal/AFP via Getty Images.
Ecuadorians are the least likely in the world to feel safe in their country, according to new polling data from Gallup.
Why it matters: Ecuador's long-time status as one of the safest nations in Latin America and the Caribbean is no more as the nation has been hit by the same systemic violence as nearby countries.
- Recent surges in violence in Ecuador are attributed to local criminal groups with links to Mexican and Albanian drug cartels fighting over port cities used to transport drugs.
Zoom in: Only 27% of Ecuadorians said they feel safe walking alone at night last year, tying with Liberia and South Africa, per the Gallup data published Tuesday.
- As a result of the safety crisis, emigration from Ecuador has skyrocketed, even as the government of President Daniel Noboa has aggressively targeted crime groups and promised judicial reforms.
Zoom out: Chile joined Ecuador in the list of global countries with the worst perceived safety this year, with just 36% saying they felt safe, as the nation has seen a rise in robberies even as overall crime rates remain relatively low.
The intrigue: For the first time, El Salvador rose to the top of the list of places where people feel most safe.
- The Gallup poll shows 88% of Salvadorans said they felt safe walking home at night last year, compared to the average of 49% for the last 17 years.
- That's seen as a result of a state of emergency targeting gangs that's been in place since spring of 2022 and allows authorities to carry out mass arrests without probable cause or a warrant.
- While the measure has proved popular among Salvadorans, it has also been criticized by human rights groups and international organizations that say many innocent civilians have been caught in arrests – and some may have then died in prison under suspicious circumstances.
Hondurans (62%), Panamanians (60%) and Guatemalans (58%) are the other Latin American and Caribbean countries where most people said they feel safe.
The big picture: Still, Latin America and the Caribbean is once again the region where citizens say they feel the least safe in the world.
- An average of 47% of respondents in Latin America and the Caribbean said they feel safe when walking home alone at night in 2023. The worldwide average was 70%.
- "The percentage has never topped 50% at any point in nearly two decades of polling," Julie Ray, the lead author of the Gallup report, tells Axios Latino.
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