15 Most Competitive Cities in the World and Toronto Comes in 12th

As a Canadian call centre based in Toronto, I find reports that rank Toronto or Canada on a global scale interesting. Such was the case with report rankings of the smartest countries, the happiest countries, the best countries for entrepreneurs and the best countries to live. I recently wrote about the Best Cities Ranking and Report released by The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). The EIU is the research arm of The Economist and this report ranked cities according to EIU’s Livability Index and considered spatial adjustments.

Today’s report, titled Hot Spots, was commissioned by Citigroup and was also researched by EIU. The report ranks the competitiveness of 120 of the world’s foremost cities based on comparisons of major urban centres across eight distinct categories of competitiveness and 31 indicators (21 qualitative and 10 quantitative) grouped under eight categories (including weighting): economic strength (30.0%), human capital (10.0%), institutional effectiveness (10.0%), financial maturity (15.0%), global appeal (5.0%), physical capital (15.0%), environment and natural hazards (5.0%), and social and cultural character (10.0%). EIU also conducted in-depth interviews with ten city experts, mayors and corporate executives, to get insights on city competitiveness.

“With more than half of the world’s population now living in urban areas, cities are more important than ever to the world’s societal and economic development” said Francesco Vanni d Archirafi, Chief Executive Officer, Citi Global Transaction Services. He went on to say that the report was commissioned to: 1) Enhance understanding of market competitiveness; 2) Identify areas where growth, talent, and opportunity are likely to be found in the years ahead; and 3) Determine the ways in which cities can enhance their competitiveness to enable economic progress and growth.

The countries that made up the top 15 and their corresponding overall scores:

• 1 New York, USA – 71.4
• 2 London, England – 70.4
• 3 Singapore – 70.0
• T-4 Hong Kong – 69.3
• T-4 Paris, France 69.3
• 6 Tokyo, Japan – 68.0
• 7 Zurich, Switzerland – 66.8
• 8 Washington, USA – 66.1
• 9 Chicago, USA – 65.9
• 10 Boston, USA – 64.5
• 11 Frankfurt, Germany – 64.1
• 12 Toronto, Canada – 63.9
• T-13 Geneva, Switzerland – 63.3
• T-13 San Francisco, USA – 63.3
• 15 Sydney, Australia – 63.1

Toronto’s overall score was made of the following results in each of the eight categories: Economic Strength 32.3, Physical Capital 88.4, Financial Maturity 100.0, Institutional Effectiveness 87.1, Social and Cultural Character 90.0, Human Capital 75.6, Environment and Natural Hazards75.0 and Global Appeal 26.8. All results were out of 100 so clearly Toronto has some work to do especially when it comes to Economic Strength and Global Appeal.

Other notable Canadian rankings include: 18th Vancouver 61.8 and 22nd Montreal 60.3. The US cities that were included in the study (in order) were: 16th Los Angeles 61.5, 23rd Houston 59.9, 25th Dallas 59.8, 29th Seattle 59.3, 30th Philadelphia 58.5 and 31st Atlanta 58.2.

As a Toronto business, this list was of particular importance to us and we’re proud of where our city ranked and have faith we can improve on the areas we were lacking. Canada and Canadian cities are often overlooked and international reports such as this one helps to positively raise its profile. So, once again, congratulations to our hometown of Toronto for being recognized on the world stage for the impressive city it is.

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Miratel Solutions is a Toronto call centre, eBusiness, and letter shop mail house specializing in professional fundraising services including telephone fundraising, online fundraising, lottery services, donation caging, donation processing and other donor management services. We are committed to our CSR business values and advancing the missions of the non-profits we proudly serve.