A new report has identified the world's most dangerous public transport systems for sexual harassment against women, with a string of Latin American cities topping the list.

Polling company YouGov interviewed 6,555 women and gender experts in 16 cities across the globe between August and September this year.

Participants were asked six questions about their experiences of travelling alone at night on buses, trains or trams.

They were quizzed about the risk of being verbally harassed by men, the risk of being groped or physically harassed, their trust in whether other passengers would assist a woman being abused, their trust in authorities to investigate reports of sexual harassment or violence and the availability of safe public transport.

Colombia's capital Bogota, which has no train network but a transit system of red TransMilenio buses, was found to be the least safe place for women to travel in. Mexico City came next on the list, with 64% of women questioned reporting some type of physical harassment on public transport.

Lima, the capital of Peru, was third on the list, followed by New Delhi. There was global outrage in 2012 after a 23-year-old woman was gang-raped by six men on a bus in the Indian capital and later died from her injuries. The case became a symbol of the widespread mistreatment of women in the country and the government's inability to deal with crime, especially rape.

Sexual harassment against women: the world's most dangerous public transport systems