Ranked: The World’s Most Surveilled Cities

Ranked: The World’s Most Surveilled Cities

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Surveillance is becoming a defining feature of modern cities, but the level of monitoring varies significantly from one urban center to the next.

In Los Angeles, the number of cameras exceeds 46,000. Hyderabad, India has around 900,000. This visualization ranks major global cities by the number of CCTV cameras per 1,000 people using data from Comparitech, showing where surveillance is most concentrated.

As governments and municipalities expand surveillance for security and smart city initiatives, these rankings offer a snapshot of where camera density—and public surveillance—is highest today.

Cities With the Most Cameras Per Capita

At the top of the list, Hyderabad, India leads globally with 79 cameras per 1,000 people, followed by Indore (72) and Bangalore (41). Collectively, they hold over 1.7 million cameras.

It’s worth noting that data for specific cities in China is unavailable owing to government secrecy. However, it’s estimated to have 494 cameras per capita, or nearly one camera for every two people.

The table below shows the number of CCTV cameras per capita, highlighting the scale of public surveillance around the world.

Rank	City	Country	Cameras Per 1,000 People	Number of CCTV Cameras
1	Hyderabad	India	79	900,000
2	Indore	India	72	251,500
3	Bangalore	India	41	585,300
4	Lahore	Pakistan	28	410,300
5	Seoul	South Korea	24	243,400
6	Moscow	Russia	20	250,000
7	Kabul	Afghanistan	18	90,000
8	Singapore	Singapore	18	113,000
9	Saint Petersburg	Russia	18	102,000
10	Baghdad	Iraq	15	120,000
11	London	United Kingdom	13	131,900
12	Los Angeles	United States	12	46,800
13	Busan	South Korea	12	42,800
14	Istanbul	Turkey	11	179,000
15	New York City	United States	10	80,300
16	Delhi	India	9	313,300
17	Chennai	India	9	106,600
18	Ho Chi Minh City	Vietnam	8	79,100
19	Kuwait City	Kuwait	7	24,900
20	Bangkok	Thailand	7	81,100
21	Pune	India	7	52,100
22	Kochi	India	7	24,000
23	Lucknow	India	7	27,200
24	Hong Kong	Hong Kong	6	48,000
25	Mexico City	Mexico	6	136,900
26	New Taipei	Taiwan	6	27,200
27	Ankara	Turkey	6	31,400
28	Rome	Italy	5	22,500
29	Sydney	Australia	5	26,200

Pakistan’s capital, Lahore, ranks fourth globally at 28 cameras per 1,000 people. With 410,300 cameras in total, facial recognition is often linked to national databases in real time.

Moscow, Russia ranks in sixth globally, with 20 cameras per capita. As one of the most pervasive surveillance systems worldwide, Moscow is blanketed in 250,000 cameras, which use facial recognition to identify protestors, journalists, and dissidents.

Across the West, London is the most highly surveilled cities, ranking in 11th overall. Following next in line is Los Angeles, with the number of cameras increasing by roughly 34% since 2022.

The Rise of Surveillance Infrastructure

Beyond Los Angeles, several cities have mirrored this expansion of surveillance systems in public spaces.

Notably, the number of cameras jumped 104% in Hyderabad, 17% in Moscow, and 3.6% in London since 2022. At the same time, these systems are increasingly using machine learning algorithms to identify patterns, automate profiles, and detect “suspicious activity”.

Not only do vast networks of cameras allow government authorities to detect traffic or parking violations, they provide access to people’s movements, raising questions of privacy and data accumulation in an age of AI-powered monitoring.

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To learn more about this topic, check out this graphic on the countries that have banned ChatGPT.

• Source: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/ranked-the-worlds-most-surveilled-cities-by-camera-density/