The Kiev Crime Rate
Or: is Ukraine a safe place to travel? Get the inside scoop on what the crime rate in Kiev is really like
What do Kiev and Rome, Italy have in common?
Everything and nothing, I would say. Both cities are European capitals that act as the political centers of their countries. Also, both cities even have the popualation. Rome at 2,8 million people is slightly larger than Kiev that has 2,6 million people.
One could also say both cities have very little in common. As of late Rome remains famous for a vivid fashion industry, its vast cultural heritage as well as rip-off prices like 16€ for a single ice cream. Kiev, on the other side, has been making the international headlines with violent protests, general civil outrage and a former boxing champion as the city’s new mayor.
With pictures of burning barricades and protesters wearing pots and pans as protection gear circulating all over the media one is tempted to think that Kiev is anything but a safe place to travel. And with all the big headlines about Kiev isn’t it natural to think that the Kiev crime rate must be going through the roof?
In order to understand what life in Kiev is really like you actually have to put the stress on words like tempted and think. Let me just say at this point that even when the protests where at their peak the real life down on the ground in Kiev had very little to do with an alleged all-out chaos:
Anyone who has recently spent time in Kiev will guarantee you that life in the city has nothing to with the coverage it received in the media.
And anyone who has lived in Kiev during the protests will guarantee you that while all hell might have broken loose on Maidan Square just a few blocks away life went on as if nothing happened.
In short, the protests in Kiev and the crime rate in Kiev are two things that, quite frankly, have nothing in common. This being said, here’s the logical consequence of all that: since protests and crime rate in Kiev are not interlinked the Kiev’s crime rate naturally is on a level that is nothing but the absolute average of Eastern Europe.
If all the videos, articles and pictures don’t do Kiev justice then what does? To answer that question let me point out to one of the first articles ever to be released by Euromentravel.com. It just happens that this article deals with crime, violence and turbulence in everyday life in Kiev. Published on Maria’s Bulgaria-based travel blog travellingbuzz.com the article gives you a brilliant inside on what it’s like to live, wander around and go out at night in Kiev.
In case you missed out on this great article head over to it now by clicking the link below. Read from first-hand experience whether a question like “Can you get robbed in Ukraine” can be taken seriously at all.