Bengaluru Urban ranked Karnataka’s most unsafe district for children

A new Child Rights Index report highlights severe gaps in protection, high crime concentration, and growing vulnerabilities for children in Bengaluru’s rapidly urbanising environment.

Bengaluru Urban has been identified as the most unsafe district for children in Karnataka, according to the latest Child Rights Index prepared by researchers from the Institute for Social and Economic Change in collaboration with the Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights. The assessment places the district at the bottom due to a combination of high crime incidence and the pressures of a fast-growing urban environment that exposes children to multiple vulnerabilities.

The study evaluates districts on six major indicators, right to life, enabling environment, nutrition, protection, education and participation. Bengaluru Urban performs poorly in several of these areas, particularly child protection, where the concentration of crimes is significantly higher compared to other regions. The district registers the highest crime rate against children in the state, nearly eight times the average of the remaining districts. Crimes also show a concentration pattern surrounding Bengaluru’s urban sprawl, with Mysuru, Mandya, Bengaluru Rural, Tumakuru, Belagavi, Dakshina Kannada, Chikkaballapur and Ramanagar following.

Also Read:Bengaluru to get 66 multi-level parking complexes to ease growing traffic pressure

Other districts that score low on child safety include Kolar, Vijayapura, Gadag and Belagavi. In contrast, the safest environments are reported in Kodagu and Udupi, which perform strongly across most indicators.

When participation rights, an index that varies sharply between rural and urban areas, are excluded, Udupi, Mandya, Dakshina Kannada, Kodagu and Bengaluru Rural emerge as the top performers.

The report also raises concerns about nutrition, particularly anaemia. More than 70% of children in seven districts, especially in Kalyana Karnataka, are anaemic. In Mysuru and several parts of the Bengaluru region, the prevalence ranges between 50% and 60%, signalling persistent gaps in child health.

Also Read:Bengaluru breaks into world’s top 30 best cities, ranks no. 29 in global 2026 list

Overall, the findings underline the need for stronger child protection systems, targeted social interventions and improved urban planning to safeguard children in rapidly expanding districts like Bengaluru Urban.