Mumbai, Kohima, Visakhapatnam safest for women; Patna, Jaipur, Delhi least safe: Report

6 IN 10 WOMEN FEEL SAFE IN THEIR CITY; 40% FEEL UNSAFE OR NOT SO SAFE

- MPOST BUREAU

NEW DELHI: Kohima, Visakhapatnam, Bhubaneswar, Aizawl, Gangtok, Itanagar and Mumbai have emerged as the safest cities for women in India, while Patna, Jaipur, Faridabad, Delhi, Kolkata, Srinagar and Ranchi ranked lowest, according to the National Annual Report & Index on Women's Safety (NARI) 2025, which also found that 40 per cent of women still consider themselves "not so safe" or "unsafe" in their cities.

The index, released on Thursday, was compiled from a survey of 12,770 women across 31 cities. It assigned a national safety score of 65 per cent, categorising urban centres into four bands—"much above," "above," "below," and "much below" the benchmark. The findings suggest that cities at the top of the list displayed stronger indicators of gender equity, civic participation, policing efficiency and women-friendly infrastructure. By contrast, those at the bottom were associated with weaker institutional support, patriarchal social patterns and infrastructural shortcomings.

The report stated, "Kohima, Visakhapatnam, Bhubaneswar, Aizawl, Gangtok, Itanagar, Mumbai lead national safety rankings, often correlating with higher gender equity, infrastructure, policing, or civic participation while Ranchi, Srinagar, Kolkata, Delhi, Faridabad, Patna, and Jaipur scored lowest, correlating with poorer infrastructure, patriarchal norms, or weaker institutional responsiveness.”