Volume 115

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Global Safety Perceptions Reach Record High & What It Means for Physical Security

The release of Gallup's 2025 Global Safety Report is a report that I look forward to each year. In Brief 63, I examined the 2024 report, and in Brief 46, I analyzed the 2023 report, each offering useful insights into our industry. (Reminder, you can access the Brief archives here).

It is the only resource that provides the temperature of the globe's collective feeling for societal safety. This is a cultural story that has a significant impact on our industry. It pains me that it comes from Gallup rather than our own industry, but I am thrilled that Gallup is doing it, so I'll take it.

While the security industry has a rich cultural history rooted in safety, trust, productivity, and prosperity, it often falls short in its messaging. Instead of emphasizing the broader cultural relevance of security, the industry tends to focus on product features, such as blue blinky lights. This narrow approach leaves the industry vulnerable to price-based competition and limits its ability to attract customers, talent, and investors who are essential for long-term growth.

I compared and contrasted 2023, 2024, and 2025 to identify any differences, similarities, or trends that may provide insight into the general public's global perception of safety.

So let's get into it…

Gallup's 2025 Global Safety Report presents a fascinating paradox worth exploring. Despite a year marked by wars, unrest, and economic uncertainty, more people feel safe today than at any point in the past two decades. Globally, 73% of adults report feeling safe walking alone at night, the highest percentage since Gallup began tracking this in 2006.

The report credits gains in Asia-Pacific, Western Europe, Latin America, and sub-Saharan Africa. Latin America, long perceived as one of the least safe regions, reached a significant milestone: for the first time, half of the residents say they feel safe walking at night. At the other extreme, South Africa reported the lowest perception of safety at 33%, while Singapore topped the list again at 98%. The Gulf states continue to stand out, with Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, and the UAE all scoring above 90%.

One of the most persistent challenges remains the gender gap. Globally, 67% of women feel safe walking alone at night compared with 78% of men. In the United States, the gap is even more stark: only 58% of women report feeling safe compared to 84% of men.

Gallup's CEO summarized it well: safety is not just the absence of violence, but the presence of trust, institutions, and collective resilience.

How does it relate to physical security?

This matters because it pushes our industry beyond a narrow focus on our hardware alone, including locks, cameras, and alarms. Safety is not only about the physical absence of harm. It is about environments where people feel secure enough to live, work, and thrive. For regions like Latin America and Africa, which remain structurally vulnerable, this will mean sustained investment in community-level security infrastructure. The gender gap signals a clear market and societal need for solutions that specifically address women's experiences of safety.

For the Gulf states, it demonstrates how governance, infrastructure, and modern security systems, when combined, can enhance perceptions of safety across entire societies.

My view on all of this

These findings underscore the need for a narrative shift in our industry: physical security is about trust, not just technology. Safety perception should be considered a social and economic KPI, as critical to a country's wellbeing as GDP or employment rates. This is a call to action, a new direction that we should embrace and champion.

We should own this. We should tell stories about this. 

We. Should. Own. This.

This is not the first time Gallup's work has intersected with our industry.

In Brief 46, I wrote about Gallup's 2023 Global Safety Report, which noted that global safety perceptions were starting to rebound after several years of decline. Then, the message was that the access control industry had a role to play in rebuilding trust from the ground up. Today, two years later, Gallup's data shows progress, but also unevenness. A reminder that our work is far from complete.

In Brief 63, I drew on Gallup's State of the Global Workplace 2024 Report and connected it to our industry, arguing that employee wellbeing is inseparable from safety at work. The 2025 Global Safety Report extends that argument from the office to the community, showing that whether at work or in public, safety and wellbeing are two sides of the same coin.

Together, these Gallup reports point to a bigger truth: the future of our industry is not defined by devices, but by outcomes. Locks, readers, and controllers are necessary tools, but the measure of our value is whether people feel safe. That means shifting from feature-selling to outcome-selling: delivering trust, resilience, and safety.

We have some work to do

Our industry and brands are built to lead this shift. However, we have to want to do this.

That is the opportunity before us. And that is where we will continue to lead, and we welcome you to join us. 

Download the white paper here.

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