Competitive Madrid outflanks Barcelona

MADRID has been ranked 28th overall in global city competitive rankings just released, while Barcelona was 41st.

The index ranked the competitiveness of 120 of the world´s major cities according to:

– Economic strength

– Global appeal

– Financial maturity

– Institutional effectiveness

– Social and cultural character

– Human capital

– Environment hazards  

New York came out overall top followed by London, Singapore and then Paris.

But individually in the global appeal section, Barcelona finished in a lofty ninth position, and Madrid 12th.

London was also top in this section, followed by Paris, Tokyo and Singapore, and with New York in 8th spot.

US and European cities – accounting for 24 of the top 30 city rankings – are the most competitive, despite concerns over ageing infrastructure and large budget deficits.

But London´s The Economist Intelligence Unit´s Global City Competitiveness Index for 2012 – commissioned by Citigroup – found that emerging market cities including Ahmedabad in India and Tianjin in China have the potential to competitively catch up.