More than 55% of the world's population lives in urban areas; by 2050, that percentage is expected to rise to 68%, says The Economist Intelligence Unit. The speed of urbanization can present many challenges to cities and nations — most paramount being resident safety.

The Economist Intelligence Unit, sponsored by NEC Corporation, recently published its findings for the 2019 Safest Cities Index (SCI), a benchmarking tool that measures a number of safety factors in some of the world's most populated cities, including, health, infrastructure, digital and personal security.

• Health security: The index measures health security based on how cities perform in regard to environmental policies as well as the quality and accessibility of health care.
• Infrastructure security: Factors including physical builds, vulnerability to disasters, terrorist attacks and transportation safety are considered under this category.
• Personal security: Crime rates, natural disasters and man-made threats are all accounted for when measuring cities' personal security level.
• Digital security: This domain evaluates the level of which citizens can roam digital channels without fear of cyber violations or threats; in addition, it accounts for the level of technology cities have in place to fight cyber threats and teams they have dedicated to cybersecurity.