90 Per Cent of Young Women Feel Unsafe Walking at Night in Sydney As 'Danger Spots' Map Launches

Do you feel safe walking in your city at night?

A survey commissioned by NGO Plan International Australia found 90 per cent of women aged 18 to 25 felt unsafe in the city of Sydney at night and 49 per cent had experienced street harassment.

The head of Plan International Australia, Hayley Cull, told the ABC that they're doing something about an issue that hasn't had an easy solution.

"We've found 90 per cent of girls in Sydney are feeling unsafe being in their city at night," Cull told the ABC. "That's an extraordinary statistic."

In response to these alarming statistics, Plan International has released a community-run interactive map that allows people to anonymously report experiences they've had around the areas of Sydney.

The map works with users selecting areas and dropping pins to report their experiences. Others can hover over suburbs to read others' experiences.

A screenshot of the map with alerts in Sydney's CBD.

"At the moment there's no mechanism for reporting any kind of harassment that doesn't seem like the most severe, most extreme sort of that," Cull explained to the ABC. "That's what's making it invisible."

A version of the map was trialled in Melbourne two years ago and delivered surprising results, with more than 1,300 pins dropped around the city.

The app will also be launched today in Peru's Lima, Madrid in Spain and Delhi in India. There's no word yet on whether the app will be rolled out to other parts of Australia. You can have a look at how it works here.

Photo: iStock.com/dragana991