India is 1/6th of humanity (= 4 Americas put together). Total rapes in India are going to be more than USA. But per capita rapes (or the rape rate) is less than USA.
I would not be surprised if South and west India in particular have amongst the lowest ‘real’ rape rates (after accounting for all underreporting) in the world. Sometimes a developing nation can be better than developed nations in some areas you know.
Another entry details the various international tourist advisories from governments concerned about rapes of foreign nationals in India:
**Tourist advisories
Rape cases against internationals have led several countries to issue travel advisories that “women travellers should exercise caution when travelling in India even if they are travelling in a group; avoid hailing taxis from streets or using public transport at night, and to respect local dress codes and customs and avoid isolated areas”.
In March 2013, a Swiss couple who were cycling from Orchha to Agra, decided to camp for a night in a village in Datia District. There they were physically assaulted by eight locals, robbed, the man was overpowered and tied up, while the 39-year-old woman was gang-raped in front of her husband at the village. The Swiss government issued a travel advisory in 2013 about the “increasing numbers of rapes and other sexual offences” happening in India.
The news coverage of the rapes and updated travel advisories have worried Indian tourism industry. Some media reports stated that high profile rape cases had led to tourist numbers to drop 20 to 30 per cent compared to previous year. However, tourist arrivals in India increased from 6.5 million arrivals in 2012 to 6.8 million arrivals in 2013. Tourist arrivals in 2014 observed another 10% increase over 2013 levels.
In January 2015, the Tourism Ministry of India introduced emergency helplines for female tourists. The Indian government announced in April 2015, that tourists are now being given a “welcome card” by the immigration officer on arrival with resources to ensure their safety, that GPS-embedded tracking system are being introduced in all taxis and for tourists who want it, and tourist helplines in 12 foreign languages have been instituted.
In a non-tourism related case, Russia issued travel advisory to its citizens after a Russian national was raped in December 2009. The case was widely covered after a member of Indian parliament Shantaram Laxman Naik blamed the victim and the media for overemphasising the Russian rape case after, “she was raped by a state politician in his car after they had dinner together”. Naik was criticised by leaders of Indian political parties such as CPI-M, BJP and SP for blaming the rape victim and media.**
And then of course, there was the fatal 2012 Delhi gang rape. All the passengers plus the driver raped the victim, who died from the assault. BBC reports these types of bus rapes are way up. Don’t know if the linked case was publicized much in the US, but it was in Thailand, and I had to promise my wife I would never make her go to India.
^ Try visiting west or south India, they should be safe in general. In North India, I as a local feel safe and know about potentially unsafe situations and foreigners should be more careful than a local.
BTW there have been some of the most brutal rape cases in all major countries.