China dominates top 20 cities with most CCTV - but UK has one very high entry

London has the third highest number of CCTV cameras of any city in the world - and is the only one in the West in the global top 20, new figures reveal.

The capital has 627,727 cameras for 9.3 million residents - the equivalent of 67.5 cameras per 1,000 people, data compiled by Comparitech shows.

It is the only city in the top 20 apart from Hyderabad, India, that is outside of

China

.

Taiyuan in northeast China has the most surveillance in the world, according to the data, with 119.6 cameras for every 1,000 people.

Wuxi, near Shanghai, in eastern China, is second on the list, with 92.1 cameras for every 1,000 people.

Hyderabad in southern

India

comes in at 16th with 30 cameras for every 1,000 people.

Other Chinese cities to feature on the list include the capital Beijing, financial hub Shanghai, tech centre Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Harbin and Chengdu.

What is China's new security law and why has it shocked the world?

China is known for its high levels of surveillance and use of facial recognition technology to monitor its population.

Its recent highly controversial security law has sparked fears officials in Beijing will use surveillance in

Hong Kong

to target pro-democracy activists.

During the

coronavirus

lockdown, localised CCTV was used to stop people leaving their homes.

Globally there are 770 million cameras in use, with 54% of them in China alone, according to Comparitech.