# Is there a major city anywhere on Earth where begging is rare or nonexistent? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 28, 2010, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-major-city-anywhere-on-earth-where-begging-is-rare-or-nonexistent/565659 "2010-12-28T23:32:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-major-city-anywhere-on-earth-where-begging-is-rare-or-nonexistent/565659/1 "2010-12-28T23:32:57Z")
Further to an IRL discussion I had with a friend last night, I was wondering if there were major cities anywhere where you didn’t regularly encounter people begging. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-major-city-anywhere-on-earth-where-begging-is-rare-or-nonexistent/565659/2 "2010-12-28T23:44:11Z")
Please define “major”… ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-major-city-anywhere-on-earth-where-begging-is-rare-or-nonexistent/565659/3 "2010-12-28T23:49:57Z")
Ok a city with more than 100,000 people living in it. ---
**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-major-city-anywhere-on-earth-where-begging-is-rare-or-nonexistent/565659/4 "2010-12-29T00:04:40Z")
Dubai ---
**Author:** ![Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrogance_ex_machina/32/192_2.png) [@Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrogance_Ex_Machina)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-major-city-anywhere-on-earth-where-begging-is-rare-or-nonexistent/565659/5 "2010-12-29T00:07:40Z")
A few years ago I would have volunteered Helsinki, but then we started getting beggars from Romania, courtesy of EU. I don’t think they’ve bothered to go all the way to Oulu for example, though - at least not during winter. That’s 141k people so while I’m not sure it counts as “major” it still fits the 100k limit. It’s somewhat of a guess since I don’t live there. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-major-city-anywhere-on-earth-where-begging-is-rare-or-nonexistent/565659/6 "2010-12-29T00:10:56Z")
Christchurch, New Zealand- lived there for over a decade, don’t recall seeing more than a couple of people asking for spare change in that time. There were _homeless_ people, sure- but they didn’t generally bother passers-by for money etc as the Salvation Army and various Youth Missions would try and feed them, give them clothes, temporary shelter etc. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-major-city-anywhere-on-earth-where-begging-is-rare-or-nonexistent/565659/7 "2010-12-29T00:11:17Z")
I never encountered any beggars in Tokyo. To be fair, I saw my fair share of homeless people, but they didn’t beg. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-major-city-anywhere-on-earth-where-begging-is-rare-or-nonexistent/565659/8 "2010-12-29T00:17:20Z")
I have a hard time imagining _Singapore_ allowing anyone to beg in the streets. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-major-city-anywhere-on-earth-where-begging-is-rare-or-nonexistent/565659/9 "2010-12-29T00:26:59Z")
I’m guessing Pyongyang. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-major-city-anywhere-on-earth-where-begging-is-rare-or-nonexistent/565659/10 "2010-12-29T00:30:14Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > I never encountered any beggars in Tokyo. To be fair, I saw my fair share of homeless people, but they didn’t beg. same here. ---
**Author:** ![fluiddruid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fluiddruid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fluiddruid)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-major-city-anywhere-on-earth-where-begging-is-rare-or-nonexistent/565659/11 "2010-12-29T01:23:41Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > Ok a city with more than 100,000 people living in it. 100,000 is fairly small. Des Moines is 200,000 and I’ve never encountered a beggar. (Twice I saw people with signs by the road in surrounding suburbs, but not in the city itself. This was rare enough that I remember both times.) We have homeless people, of course, but actual panhandling is very rare. Not sure if it’s the relative low density or the cold or both, but I’d guess the former, since somewhat larger cities in the same type of climate (e.g. Madison, WI) have a significant number of panhandlers. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-major-city-anywhere-on-earth-where-begging-is-rare-or-nonexistent/565659/12 "2010-12-29T01:50:20Z")
Rochester, NY, is also over 200,000 and beggars were extremely rare. I worked in downtown for over a decade and never had to dodge any. A few people hold up signs at expressway exits but I don’t think that’s the same. The winters here will kill you if you’re outside and that may be a factor. ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-major-city-anywhere-on-earth-where-begging-is-rare-or-nonexistent/565659/13 "2010-12-29T03:01:06Z")
Luxembourg, the city, probably doesn’t have any, but it’s not quite at 100,000 population. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-major-city-anywhere-on-earth-where-begging-is-rare-or-nonexistent/565659/14 "2010-12-29T03:23:45Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > Ok a city with more than 100,000 people living in it. Then lots of them. I’ve never seen a beggar here in Burlington, Ontario, population 170,000. I’m sure lots of wealthy suburban cities can say the same. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-major-city-anywhere-on-earth-where-begging-is-rare-or-nonexistent/565659/15 "2010-12-29T03:40:12Z")
Osaka. Homeless people are even reluctant to take money, if offered. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-major-city-anywhere-on-earth-where-begging-is-rare-or-nonexistent/565659/16 "2010-12-29T03:59:34Z")
reading the responses, I’m not sure what total population has to do with it. I live in a city of around 65k and I’ve only been accosted once in about 30 years. I’ve been accosted many times within the city of Detroit, esp. around the auto show which is understandable. In fact, the last time I had someone actually approach me asking for money was in Commerce Twp, MI, which is a township of about 30k people. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-major-city-anywhere-on-earth-where-begging-is-rare-or-nonexistent/565659/17 "2010-12-29T04:05:31Z")
I brought population into it because it seems to me that begging has a common feature of daily life in Dublin City for many a year, whereas it was far less common in smaller towns. I take the point that 100,000 is all that big a city so let’s go with 500,000 as the cut off point. ---
**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-major-city-anywhere-on-earth-where-begging-is-rare-or-nonexistent/565659/18 "2010-12-29T04:52:12Z")
Actually you can add most Arab Gulf Cities: Doha, Abu Dhabi, Manama, Muscat, Kuwait City. In the poorer Arab world I didn’t see any either: Sana’a, Khartoum and others… but did in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. **Qin Shi Huangdi:** I never saw any in Pyongyang, but then I would expect that foreigners would be prevented from seeing that… though I am guessing there really are none as it is a very “welfare-state” system. I never saw any in Japan either. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-major-city-anywhere-on-earth-where-begging-is-rare-or-nonexistent/565659/19 "2010-12-29T05:02:26Z")
I can’t recall seeing any beggars in Switzerland’s large cities. Or Japan. Or Singapore. Nor Kuala Lumpur. Didn’t see any in Prague, but those were Cold War days. Dunno about now. Other places too, I’m sure. EDIT: The most recent major city I’ve been in is the Lao capital of Vientiane, and now that I think about it, there weren’t any beggars that I saw. Plus we spent most of April in Vietnam, and none there. The Commies must keep them oppressed pretty well. ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-major-city-anywhere-on-earth-where-begging-is-rare-or-nonexistent/565659/20 "2010-12-29T05:37:00Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Didn’t see any in Prague, but those were Cold War days. Dunno about now. These days Prague has more wannabe “homeless hipsters” (many from Western countries, not just former East-Bloc refugees) than Haight-Ashbury does. I still love Prague, but it has gotten to be too much like Amsterdam over recent years, in that 1000’s of young, strung-out kids (many with wealthy families back home) have overrun the place, raising hell and begging tourists for a handout to go towards a fix. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-major-city-anywhere-on-earth-where-begging-is-rare-or-nonexistent/565659.md?page=2)