Pakistan’s crime rate ranking story in 2025 is more complicated than a single headline can carry. Islamabad has climbed into the global top 100 safest cities. Lahore has overtaken New York, London, and Paris on Numbeo’s safety index in what officials are calling a historic first. And Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city, sits at a crime index of 57.6 considerably higher than both, though far improved from the days it ranked among the world’s most dangerous cities.
These numbers come from Numbeo’s 2025 and 2026 mid-year Crime and Safety Index the world’s largest crowd-sourced urban database, drawing on resident-submitted data from 380 cities globally. They should be read as public perception data rather than official police statistics, but the trends across Pakistan’s major cities are consistent enough to be meaningful.
Islamabad Crime Rate 2025 Capital Earns Global Recognition
Islamabad Safety Index Numbers
Islamabad’s crime rate 2025 data from Numbeo tells a story of real progress. The capital posted a Safety Index score of 67.9, ranking it 93rd among 380 cities globally — a position that places it ahead of London (270th, 45.8), Paris (303rd, 41.9), Berlin (187th, 55.3), and Moscow (118th, 64.6).
In terms of raw crime perception, Islamabad scored 30.8 on the Crime Index in Numbeo’s 2026 mid-year rankings the lowest among Pakistan’s major cities, putting it in the “low crime” category by the platform’s own scale.
That ranking didn’t come without caveats. Dawn’s reporting noted that Islamabad dropped 30 positions on the crime index compared to 2024 despite police claiming improvements — raising questions about whether official crime data and public perception are fully aligned. A fact-finding committee was reportedly constituted after inconsistencies were flagged.
What Drove the Improvement
Islamabad Police, under Inspector General Syed Ali Nasir Rizvi, reported a 20% overall decline in crime in 2025 compared to the previous year. The specific numbers:
- Street robbery down 19%
- Theft down 12%
- Burglary down 74%
- Vehicle and motorcycle theft down 22%
- Murder cases down 17%
In total, 600 fewer crimes were reported in 2025 than in 2024. A citywide anti-narcotics campaign titled “Nasha Ab Nahe” brought police officers into schools and colleges to address drug use among youth. The United Nations had previously designated Islamabad a “family station” for its staff a status given only to cities with stable security environments.
Lahore Crime Rate The Ranking That Caught Global Attention
Historic First for Lahore
Lahore’s entry into the 2025 Pakistan crime rate ranking story is the most unexpected. The city ranked 37th on the Global Crime Index and 63rd among the world’s safest cities outperforming 249 international urban centres.
The report places Lahore at 37th on the Global Crime Index and 63rd among the safest cities worldwide, with the city now safer than New York, London, Washington, Berlin, Istanbul, and Paris.
“This is the first time in Lahore’s history that such a clear drop in crime has been recorded,” the Numbeo report stated.</cite>
Crime Statistics Behind the Ranking
Official statistics show reported crimes in Lahore dropped from 67,585 incidents between April 2023 and April 2024, to 34,091 incidents between April 2024 and April 2025 roughly a 50% decline.
- Robberies and murders down 64%
- Street snatching down 42%
- Motorcycle theft down 33%
DIG Operations Faisal Kamran said: “Our goal is to make Lahore the safest city in the world,”a statement that reflects both the ambition behind the effort and how far the city has already moved.
Lahore’s Crime Index score in Numbeo’s 2026 mid-year data sits at 36.2 significantly below where it stood just two years ago, and below the scores of cities like Paris (58.0), Washington DC (60.4), and New Delhi (59.1).
Crime Rate in Karachi Pakistan’s Most Complex City
Karachi’s Current Position
The question that comes up most in searches recently Karachi fell to which position on the Crime Index out of 300 global cities doesn’t have a simple answer because the ranking fluctuates with each Numbeo update.
What the 2026 mid-year data shows is a Crime Index of 57.6 for Karachi, placing it in the “moderate” crime category. Among Pakistan’s major cities, this is the highest crime perception score — behind Islamabad (30.8), Lahore (36.2), and Rawalpindi (52.0).
Context Matters for Karachi
Context is essential here. In 2014, Karachi ranked 6th in the World Crime Index a period defined by sectarian violence, gang warfare, targeted killings, and daily bomb blasts. A decade of military and police operations has shifted that reality dramatically.
By 2020, Karachi had dropped to 105th on the global crime index. The city that once recorded 20 bank robberies in a single year logged just one in all of 2020. That transformation from one of the world’s most dangerous cities to a “moderate” crime city is significant, even if current challenges around street crime and street robbery remain real.
Karachi’s complexity is inherent to its scale. With an estimated population of 20-25 million across an enormous metropolitan area, comparison with smaller, more homogenous cities in the same index is difficult.
Most Dangerous City in Pakistan
Based on Numbeo’s 2026 mid-year Crime Index, Karachi (57.6) and Rawalpindi (52.0) score higher than Islamabad and Lahore. The most dangerous city in Pakistan by these metrics is Karachi, though it is worth repeating that Numbeo measures public perception of crime rather than officially recorded criminal incidents and the gap between these two measurements can be wide.
Top 10 Safest Cities in Pakistan
Based on available Numbeo data for Pakistan’s major urban centres in 2025-2026, the relative safety picture looks like this:
| City | Crime Index | Safety Index | Global Ranking (Safety) |
| Islamabad | 30.8 | 67.9 | 93rd of 380 |
| Lahore | 36.2 | 63.1 | 130th of 380 |
| Rawalpindi | 52.0 | — | — |
| Karachi | 57.6 | — | — |
Among smaller cities, Peshawar, Faisalabad, and Multan are not consistently tracked in Numbeo’s global index, making direct comparison difficult. Based on official crime data and available index information, Islamabad ranks as the safest major city in Pakistan and among the safest in the region.
Pakistan Crime Rate Ranking in Global Context
Where Pakistan Fits Globally
Pakistan’s crime rate ranking at the country level reflects its urban diversity. Its capital city competes with Western European capitals for low crime perception, while its commercial capital remains a megacity managing complexity at scale.
Numbeo’s global rankings regularly show that developing economies with strong recent policing reforms cities like Islamabad and Lahore in Pakistan, or Medellín in Colombia — can move dramatically on safety indexes when concerted institutional effort is applied.
HWhat the Data Doesn’t Show
These indexes measure perception, not every type of crime. They are strongest as trend indicators showing whether a city is getting safer or more dangerous over time — rather than absolute measures. A city with underreported crime may score artificially low on a crime index, and a city with high reporting rates may score higher simply because its residents report more.
That caveat applies equally to Pakistan’s cities and the international cities they’re being compared against. Lahore outranking London on a safety index doesn’t mean a tourist will have the same experience in both cities it means Numbeo’s survey contributors in Lahore reported lower crime perception than those in London at the time of the survey.
What Is Driving Improvement Across Pakistan?
Policing Reforms and Technology
Both Islamabad and Lahore have attributed their improved rankings to data-driven policing, increased patrol operations, digitalization of crime reporting, and use of CCTV networks. Islamabad’s Safe City project and Lahore’s hotspot-based deployment model are both credited with measurable crime reductions.
Anti-Narcotics Crackdowns
Drug trafficking has been a consistent focus of crackdowns in Islamabad and Lahore, with officials arguing that disrupting narcotics networks has secondary benefits for other crime categories.
Community Engagement
The “Nasha Ab Nahe” campaign in Islamabad, and similar youth outreach programs in Lahore, reflect an awareness that long-term safety gains require community trust alongside enforcement.
Conclusion Pakistan’s Crime Picture Is Changing
Pakistan’s crime rate ranking in 2025 represents genuine progress in its two largest planned cities, a more complex picture in Karachi, and cautious optimism that policing reforms are starting to produce results that show up in global data.
The trends are positive. Whether they hold and whether Karachi can replicate what Islamabad and Lahore have achieved will depend on whether institutional reform continues beyond the current administrations, and whether economic conditions that drive street crime can also be addressed. Rankings are useful. The conditions that produce them take longer to change.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which rank is Pakistan in the safest country?
Pakistan does not rank consistently in global “safest country” indexes because its cities vary so widely. At the city level, Islamabad ranks 93rd among 380 cities in Numbeo’s 2025 World Safety Index ahead of London, Paris, New York, and Moscow making it one of the safer capitals globally. At the national level, Pakistan ranks lower on country-level indexes that aggregate crime data across rural and urban areas, where challenges are more pronounced. The picture depends significantly on which city you’re in. Islamabad and Lahore have performed well in recent global surveys; Karachi and Rawalpindi have higher crime perception scores. Any fair assessment needs to distinguish between the capital’s safety record and the national average
Is Islamabad a safer city than London?
According to Numbeo’s 2025 World Safety Index, yes on the specific metrics Numbeo measures. Islamabad scored 67.9 on the Safety Index, placing it 93rd globally, while London scored 45.8, placing it 270th. Islamabad’s Crime Index of 30.8 in the 2026 mid-year data falls in the “low crime” category, while London’s scores have consistently placed it in the “moderate” range. That said, these are crowd-sourced perception surveys, not comprehensive crime statistics, and the types of crime prevalent in each city differ. Islamabad is geographically compact, planned, and lower-density than London. For diplomatic and expatriate communities, the comparison is real and often cited the UN itself designated Islamabad a family station for its staff, a status reflecting institutional confidence in the city’s safety environment.
Which city is safest in Pakistan?
Islamabad is consistently the safest major city in Pakistan by both official crime statistics and the Numbeo Safety Index. It recorded a Crime Index of 30.8 and a Safety Index of 67.9 in the most recent Numbeo data, with Islamabad Police reporting a 20% overall decline in crime in 2025 compared to the previous year. Lahore has made dramatic improvements and now ranks second with a Crime Index of 36.2, having recorded a 50% drop in reported crimes over the past two years. Rawalpindi (52.0) and Karachi (57.6) score higher on the crime index, indicating greater public concern about safety in those cities. Among smaller cities, Peshawar and Faisalabad are not consistently tracked in global indexes, but local crime data generally places them below Islamabad and Lahore in perceived safety.
