A research unit of Britain's The Economist magazine has named Tokyo the world's safest city on its latest biennial list.

The Economist Intelligence Unit released its Safe Cities Index 2019 on Thursday. The report ranks the world's major cities based on assessments of about 50 indicators, including crime rates and fatalities from natural disasters.

The Japanese capital ranked top among the 60 cities in the 2019 index for the third straight time since the first report was issued in 2015.

Tokyo received high scores on disaster planning, as well as for low levels of violent crime and infection by computer viruses.

But the report also noted that Tokyo is still plagued by corruption and organized crime.

Singapore was ranked second, while another Japanese city, Osaka, took the third spot.

Six of the top 10 cities are in the Asia-Pacific region. The others are Washington D.C., Toronto, Amsterdam, and Copenhagen.

NHK