From my personal experience, I can say that there surely are apartments that meet all the fire-safety regulations. Currently, I live in a flat with an escape exit, and all my previous apartments contained fire escapes. I think it’s the matter of choice and thorough accommodation search.
For example, when I lived in Saigon, I saw many buildings with side doors for emergency purposes along with a fire escape balcony and a ladder. Now I live in Vung Tau and pretty every apartment in my building has an access to an escape exit. I have 2 kitchen and bedroom windows along with the balcony door that allows a decent airflow and let enough light in.
No idea what kind of buildings you are talking about, but as far as I know, all newly-built buildings do have emergency exits and their design allows the air to circulate freely inside apartments.