Oxford Economics: New York, London and Paris top the ranking of the best cities

New York, London and Paris occupy the first three positions in the Global Index of Cities for 2026 of Oxford Economics, published on Tuesday, which places Romania’s capital city, Bucarest on 214th position in a ranking including 1,000 cities.Seatlle, San Francisco, Dublin, Boston, San Jose (California), Tokyo and Zurich complete the first ten positions in the ranking.Five categories are assessed when determining the ranking: economy, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. Bucharest and Iasi are the only Romanian cities which are included in this ranking of Oxford Economics.Thus, Bucharest is placed on 214th position for general evaluation, 111th as regards economy, 35th for human capital, 234th for life quality and 419th as regards environment and 346th as regards governance.Apart from Bucharest, the city of Ia?i also features in this ranking, coming in at number 486.   The city in north-eastern Romania ranks in the top half of the table for most indicators – 398th for the economy, 472nd for quality of life, 278th for the environment and 346th for governance – with the exception of the human capital indicator, where Ia?i ranks only 808th.   Madrid ranks 30th and tops the list in Spain, followed by Barcelona (72), Valencia (180), Palma de Mallorca (200), Bilbao (211), Málaga (212), Zaragoza (219), Seville (229), Santa Cruz de Tenerife (239) and Las Palmas (248), according to Oxford Economics, a global economic research, forecasting and consultancy firm, as reported by EFE. In Latin America, Buenos Aires ranks 138th, Lima is 196th, Mexico City is 221st, San José in Costa Rica is 297th, and Bogotá is 299th.   Oxford Economics identifies, similarly, Brasilia, Lima, Medellin, Monterrey and Santiago as ‘ cities to follow’ expecting these cities to go up in the ranking over the next years.The United States and Europe dominate the top spots in the index, albeit with different profiles: American cities stand out in particular for their economic strength and human capital, whilst European cities perform better in terms of quality of life, the environment and governance.   According to the consultancy firm, Madrid stands out for its diversified economy and human capital, whilst Barcelona combines a solid economic and talent base with a high quality of life and international appeal. Valencia and Bilbao excel in terms of quality of life and the environment.   The report cites population growth and pressure on the property market as key challenges for Spain’s major cities, where high demand and limited supply have led to rising purchase and rental prices. Cities such as Madrid and Barcelona ‘ managed to draw people, investments and business but the offer for homes did not keep up’ states the company which considers that accessibility will be ‘ more and more important for drawing workers’.The study also highlights the progress made by several cities in Central and Eastern Europe and Asia: Warsaw climbed 109 places, Taipei moved up 12 places to enter the top 50, and Kuala Lumpur rose 14 places to reach 65th position. Shenzhen has entered the top 100 for the first time, whilst Beijing ranks 165th.   Budapest is in 111th place, Sofia is in 303rd place, and Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine – a country currently at war – is in 304th place. In contrast, Odessa is in 605th place. Meanwhile, Moscow is in 313th place.   At the other end of the scale are two cities in China, Guigang (996th) and Weinan (998th), as well as the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince (997th), the Indian city of Sultanpur (998th) and the Nigerian city of Sokoto (1,000th).   Oxford Economics also anticipates that Asian cities will become increasingly important, as rising productivity and gross domestic product (GDP) raise their standard of living.