Oxford Economics recently published its first-ever Global Cities Index, which provides a comprehensive assessment of 1,000 major cities worldwide spanning 163 different countries. The index evaluates various aspects such as economics, human capital, quality of life, livability, and attractiveness of cities.

In the index, Delhi emerged as the top-ranked city in India, securing the 350th position globally. The report highlighted that Delhi outperformed Mumbai in several areas, including economics, human capital, and quality of life. However, when considering factors such as quality of life and attractiveness, cities like Kochi and Thrissur surpassed major Indian cities like Mumbai, Delhi, and Bengaluru.

quality of life
Source: Lokmat Times

Notably, major Indian cities ranked poorly in terms of quality of life. Mumbai ranked 915th, Delhi secured the 838th position, Bengaluru was ranked at 847, and Hyderabad was placed lower at 882. Meanwhile, Kochi and Thrissur fared better in this category, with ranks of 765 and 757, respectively.

The report also revealed that Delhi performed poorly in the environmental ranking, securing the 973rd position, while Sultanpur in Uttar Pradesh ranked the lowest globally, at the 1,000th spot. All Indian cities received a ranking of 380 in governance.

Global City Rankings

The Oxford Index has ranked New York as the top city in the world, followed by London, San Jose, Tokyo, and Japan. The first 50 spots on the index were mostly taken by cities in the US and Europe.

Of the 1,000 cities, those in North America, Western Europe, and Oceania generally performed well, scoring high across all categories.

Australian cities also did well, with Melbourne ranking ninth, Sydney 16th, and Perth 23rd.

Mark Britton, director of city services at Oxford Economics, said, "Our Global Cities Index provides a consistent framework for assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the largest 1,000 cities across the world, and when coupled with our forecasts, it enables organizations and policymakers to make more informed strategic decisions."

According to Oxford Economics, New York City "has the largest economy of any city in the world by far," along with stable growth, allowing it to dominate the economics category.

London took first place in the human capital category due to its wealth of top universities and global corporate headquarters, as per the report.

Meanwhile, Grenoble, France, offers the best quality of life due to income equality and the number of cultural offerings per capita.

Prediction for the years ahead

The index predicts that various global trends could disrupt these rankings in the years ahead. The report highlights that factors such as uneven economic prospects across regions and ongoing concerns about inflation could negatively impact the economic scores of many places.

Additionally, many developing countries are still struggling with debt sustainability following the COVID-19 pandemic, while the potential for increased interest rates further poses challenges to city economies.

The Oxford Economics Global Cities Index offers a comprehensive evaluation of the world's largest cities, allowing for a direct comparison across a range of metrics. The index analyzes 27 indicators in five categories: economics, human capital, quality of life, environment, and governance.

City rankings are determined through a weighted assessment of categories, with economics accounting for 30%, human capital for 25%, quality of life for 25%, environment for 10%, and governance for 10%.

The report explains that data was collected for each indicator across all cities. A normalized score was then created for each indicator, with the highest-scoring city receiving a score of 100 and the lowest-scoring city receiving a score of 0. The scores of the other cities were distributed within this range. The scores for each indicator within a category were combined to produce a total score for that category in each city. Subsequently, the total score for each category was normalized, and the city's final overall score was calculated by taking a weighted average of each category's normalized score.

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