City ranks fourth in global economic competitiveness

Chinese cities have become more competitive economically, with Shenzhen ranking fourth among 1,007 cities around the world with a population of more than 500,000, according to a United Nations (U.N.) report released Tuesday.

The Global Urban Competitiveness Report 2018-2019 was jointly released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the United Nations Program for Human Settlements, or U.N.-Habitat, during the 74th session of the U.N. General Assembly high-level meeting.

Economic competitiveness refers to a city’s ability to create value and obtain economic rent, the report said.

The study showed that while the United States has an obvious advantage in global urban economic competitiveness, China is catching up very quickly.

Four more Chinese cities are now on the top 20 list, namely Hong Kong, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Beijing. New York-Newark, Singapore and London are the top three cities in terms of economic competitiveness.

The annual report, the third of its kind, also measures the sustainable competitiveness of global cities, with New York-Newark, Tokyo and London ranking as the top three. Hong Kong ranks sixth on this list as the only Chinese city in the top 20.