The capital of Yucatán has been ranked the second safest city in North America by a business magazine.

Outranked only by Quebec City, Canada, Mérida was also ranked as the safest city in Latin America.

The city holds the 21st spot on the worldwide list, ranking higher than cities such as The Hague, Holland, home to the International Court of Justice, and Geneva, Switzerland, European seat of the United Nations.

The list prepared by Ceoworld magazine judged 334 cities across the globe based on crime level indicators.

For the third year in a row, United Arab Emirates capital Abu Dhabi topped the list as the world’s safest city, followed by Doha, capital of Qatar, and Quebec. The following cities rounded out the top 10: Taipei, Munich, Dubai, Zurich, Bern (Switzerland), Eskisehir (Turkey), and Hong Kong.

The top-ranking U.S. city on the list was Salt Lake City, Utah, at No. 53. In Canada, Ottawa came in at 37th and Waterloo at 45th.

Given the unprecedented levels of violence in Mexico, one might expect to find a Mexican city or two at the bottom of the list, but that is not the case.

The five most dangerous cities in the world are Caracas, Venezuela; Pietermaritzburg, South Africa; Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea; Pretoria, South Africa; and San Pedro Sula, Honduras.

Other Mexican cities on the list include Puerto Vallarta, ranked No. 83, Querétaro 115, Monterrey 230, Guadalajara 271, Tijuana 278 and Mexico City 309.

Fittingly, Mérida will host the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates on September 19-22.

Yucatán itself is Mexico’s safest state in terms of homicides. There were just 16 cases in the first six months of this year. In contrast, Guanajuato recorded 1,383.

Source: El Financiero (sp)