In their seventh index of 30 global cities, PWC report that London has retained the top spot as the world’s leading City of Opportunity. The report benchmarks 30 international cities against a set of ten indicators. Each indicator is subdivided into a series of variables for which each city gains a score. The overall score for each indicator is then presented as a ranking.
Overall London was given a score of 1,466 which is the sum of its scores across all the variables. In second place is Singapore with 1,377 points and Toronto follows in third place with 1,366 points.
Looking at the ten indicators within the index, London ranks in first place three times and within the top ten cities a further five times. There are only two indicators for which London does not rank within the top ten cities; sustainability and the natural environment and cost.
London’s number of Global 500 headquarters, financial and business services employment and level of foreign direct investment all propel it to the top of the Economic Clout category, ahead of New York and Beijing. Meanwhile London’s passenger flows help it to take top spot in the City Gateway and Airport Connectivity category while its high world university rankings push it to the top of the Intellectual Capital and Innovation category.
London’s passenger flows help it to take top spot in the City Gateway and Airport Connectivity category while its high world university rankings push it to the top of the Intellectual Capital and Innovation category.
The analysis for this report was completed before the UK voted to leave the EU in June 2016. It remains to be seen what the impact of Brexit will be on London’s status going forward but this report shows that London begins Brexit negotiations in a very strong position as a major global centre for business, finance and culture.
London doing well will also have positive knock-on benefits for the rest of the UK.
Full ranking of cities
Source: PWC