Truthfully, high-sec sucks enough without ganking. Many players hang out in high-sec because it’s geared towards more casual play; ganking just makes it more insufferable.
Low-sec, null and wormhole space each have their own pros and cons, but generally require more of a commitment than high-sec.
It would be interesting to see what the EVE player count would be if FC disabled red safety in high-sec for a month.