About the study

This year, our foundational study includes 27 cities, which we select using three fundamental criteria: cities exemplify capital market centers, represent a broad geographic sampling, and comprise both mature and emerging economies. The cities are measured across 10 indicators constructed with a robust sampling of 60 variables, each of which has been chosen because it is: relevant; consistent across the sample; publicly available and collectible; current; free of skewing from local nuances; and truly reflective of a city’s quality or power.

The report is based on publicly available information supported by extensive research. Three main sources are used: Global multilateral development organizations such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, national statistics organizations, and commercial data providers. The scoring methodology was developed to ensure transparency and simplicity, as well as comparability across cities.

Taking the data for each individual variable, the 27 cities are sorted from the best performing to the lowest performing. The cities are then assigned a score from 27 (best performing) to 1 (lowest performing). Once all 60 variables are ranked and scored, they are placed into their 10 indicators. Within each group, the variable scores are then summed to produce an overall indicator score for that topic. This produces 10 indicator league tables that display the relative performance of our 27 cities. Methodology presented for The City Tomorrow section can be found on page 20 of the report.