toronto ranking

Toronto fails to make any of the best cities lists in prestigious new ranking

Toronto is quite notably absent from a new ranking of the top cities around the world for things like quality of life, governance, and economics — a potential indication that the city, which usually performs fairly well in such assessments, is indeed in decline.

Oxford Economics' latest Global Cities Index, which analyzed a staggering 1,000 metropolitan areas across the globe, assessed various factors that contribute to the success — which includes the worldwide impact and significance — of urban economies.

The report's purpose is to delve into a locale's strengths and weaknesses to help "businesses, academics and policymakers make informed decisions," whether those decisions are about a company opening up a new branch in a given place or how leaders can help a city build and improve.

Hubs were ranked in the areas of economics, human capital, quality of life, environment, and governance, and then overall, with New York, London, and San Jose coming out on top with scores of 100, 99.4, and 98.5 out of 100, respectively.

Also in the general top 10 were Toyko (97.8), Paris (96.3), Seattle (95.8), L.A. (95.4) San Francisco (94.7), Melbourne (94.6), and Zurich (94.2). Toronto was nowhere to be seen among these high scorers, eight of which also populated one or more of the other lists.

Cities such as Seoul (for human capital), Grenoble (for quality of life), Suva (for environment), and Auckland (for governance) also made appearances, as did cities in Norway, Iceland, Belgium, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Brazil, Finland, Sweden, and others.

Who wasn't mentioned at all? Toronto, or any other city in Canada.

Oxford Economics writes of its findings that "the top 10 cities are located on four continents. The diversity in characteristics of these cities emphasizes that there is no single formula for leading the pack.... and even within regions, there is significant variation across cities."

They also note that all of the areas assessed play "crucial" roles in a place's prosperity and attractiveness, as well as in the opportunities, happiness, and access to goods and services available to its citizens.

Earlier this year, Toronto also fell off the list of the most liveable cities from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

Lead photo by

Mostofa Mohiuddin/Shutterstock


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