BY GEROME DALIPE IV
ILOILO City – A United Kingdom-based independent global advisory firm ranked Bacolod City as the 538th “best city to live” in 2024 the list of 1,000 cities worldwide.
Oxford Economics, a global forecasting and quantitative analysis company headquartered in Oxford, United Kingdom, released the results of its annual Oxford Economics Global Cities Index 2024.
The Global Cities Index provides a holistic assessment of the 1,000 largest cities in the world. Its ranking system evaluates the world’s 1,000 largest urban economies in terms of the following five categories: economics, human capital, quality of life, environment, and governance.
“Our Global Cities Index provides a consistent framework for assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the largest 1,000 cities across the world, and when coupled with our forecasts, it enables organizations and policymakers to make more informed strategic decisions,” said Mark Britton, director of City Services at Oxford Economics.
Bacolod City is the lone city in Western Visayas included in the list of 1,000 urban economies worldwide.
The “City of Smile”, as Bacolod is also known, excelled when it came to environment, ranking 12th. But it logged to the 695th spot on the list in the Quality of Life category. Such a category contains indicators that measure the natural environment of each city on climate change-related issues.
The Quality of Life covers life expectancy, housing expenditure, income per person, recreation and cultural sites, income equality, and internet speed.
“Evaluating quality of life metrics in the index underscores the importance of urban policies that not only prioritize economic prosperity but also health, equality, and cultural vibrancy, enhancing residents’ overall wellbeing,” the study said.
In terms of economics, the category that measures the economic size, structure, and growth of each city, examining both historical performance and future potential, Bacolod City ranked 546th.
In terms of Human Capital, the category that measures the city’s population knowledge and skills, Bacolod City ranked 739th out of 1,000 cities worldwide.
For the Governance category, experts at Oxford Economics noted the method in assessing a city’s governance also factored in the performance of the national government.
This means all cities in a certain country in the list have the same score. For Philippine cities, each ranked 614th in the Governance category.
This category contains indicators that measure the political stability of a city and the degree to which residents’ rights are protected. Oxford Economics also ranked Cebu City as the 436th Best City to Live in the list of 1,000 cities.
Manila is ranked 256th while Cagayan de Oro is placed in the 887th position in the list of 1,000 urban cities in the world. Davao City is ranked 500th while Angeles City occupies 502nd globally.
On the other hand, Dagupan ranked 604 globally; Zamboanga placed 95th in global rankings while General Santos, positioned in the 723rd spot.
The 2024 Global Cities Index, ranked New York as the first on the list, while London secured the second spot, followed by San Jose, Tokyo, and Paris.
The Global Cities Index covers the 1,000 largest cities in the world, which are located in 163 different countries.
Oxford Economics emphasized that the overall score for each of the 1,000 Global Cities considers not only the city’s economic performance, but also how well-educated it is, the wellbeing of its residents, the volatility of its climate, any political risks facing the city, and much more.
The Global Cities Index also provides a more complete comparison of cities, by ranking them not just on their economic performance, but considering other important factors that influence their relative strengths.
The firm said it developed the Global Cities Index to provide a holistic assessment of the 1,000 largest cities in the world.
“Leveraging our economic data, and supplemented by other publicly available datasets, the index allows us to directly compare cities around the world on a range of metrics,” it said./PN
