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China the most surveilled nation? The US has the largest number of CCTV cameras per capita
- The total number of CCTV cameras installed in China is 200 million, compared to 50 million for the US
- China has four times as many surveillance cameras installed than the US, but is just behind America when it comes to number of CCTV cameras per capita
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Coco Fengin Guangdong
China may have gained a reputation as a surveillance state because it has more closed circuit TV (CCTV) cameras deployed than any other country, but when it comes to per capita usage, the US is No 1.
The US has 15.28 surveillance cameras per 100 citizens, slightly higher than China’s density of 14.36, followed by the UK, Germany and the Netherlands, according to a report issued this week by computer security site Precisesecurity.com.
The total number of CCTV cameras installed in China is 200 million, compared to 50 million in the US. The other countries in the top five ,in terms of quantity of cameras installed, are Germany, the UK and Japan.
China accounts for eight of the top 10 cities in the world when it comes to surveillance cameras per capita, with London and Atlanta ranking sixth and tenth, respectively. The No 1 city in this group is the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing. A recent trip there by the Post revealed the omnipresence of such surveillance which is designed to monitor traffic, prevent petty theft in restaurants and supermarkets, and monitor public safety in parks and shopping malls.
China’s national surveillance system, called the Skynet Project, equipped the country with more than 20 million cameras dedicated to “live surveillance and recording” and millions more are expected to be added by 2020, according to a 2017 report by Chinese state media.
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