City Mayors ranks the largest cities and urban areas in the world. It also ranks the largest cities in individual countries, and provides a list of the capital cities of some 200 sovereign countries



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Tokyo is number one among
the richest cities in the world
A report by PricewaterhouseCoopers

11 March 2007: Greater Tokyo stands unrivalled in the world. For many years to come, the Japanese capital together with its surrounding urban areas will remain the richest and largest city in the world. Research published by PricewaterhouseCooper (PWC) in March 2007 places the Japanese capital at the top of the world’s richest cities between 2005 and 2020. In its own research on the world’s largest cities between 2006 and 2020, City Mayors also ranks Tokyo number one in the world.

Overall, the PWC research emphasises the economic significance of the world’s largest cities. The top 30 such cities ranked by GDP accounted for around 16 per cent of world GDP in 2005 and this share rises to around 25 per cent for the top 100 cities.

• At present, the mega-cities of the major developed economies continue to lead the global GDP rankings, with the top six in 2005 being Tokyo, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Paris and London.

• These mega-cities are of a scale comparable to many national economies. The Tokyo and New York urban agglomerations, for example, have estimated GDPs at purchasing power parity rates (PPPs) broadly similar to those of Canada or Spain, while London has a higher estimated GDP at PPPs than Sweden or Switzerland.

• None of the projected top 30 fastest-growing large cities in 2020 are from the major advanced economies, with emerging economy cities rising up the rankings.

• Five emerging economy cities are currently in the top 30 ranked by GDP (Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Sao Paolo, Moscow and Rio de Janeiro), but projections suggest that all of these cities except Rio will move up the global rankings by 2020 while fast-growing cities such as Shanghai, Mumbai, Istanbul and Beijing will move into the global top 30 by then.

• Three Indian cities are projected to rise into the top 100 in the GDP rankings between 2005 and 2020, while China and Brazil each have two new entries in the top 100. Ten of the 30 fastest growing large cities in the period 2005-20 are projected to be from China and eight from India.

• London is projected to grow somewhat faster than rivals such as Tokyo, New York, Chicago and Paris, moving up to fourth place by 2020, but other ‘old Europe’ cities, including Rome, Milan and Berlin, appear likely to slide down the rankings as the emerging economy cities of Asia and Latin America rise.

John Hawksworth, head of macroeconomics at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, said that within the developed world, it seemed likely that the most successful cities of the future would be those that had comparative advantages in intangible business, financial and consumer services that were not so easily emulated by the rising stars of China, India or Brazil. “A larger global market can still be of great benefit to those ‘old Europe’ cities that are likely to slide down the relative GDP rankings. Historic capital cities such as Rome, Vienna and Berlin, for example, should benefit from increased tourist revenues from the residents of cities in the emerging economies, while London and Frankfurt should benefit from the increased financial services trade and Paris and Milan should find new markets for their fashion industries,” he explained.

Thomas Hoehn, head of the economics practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers, added that the general increase in cities’ GDP across the world was good news, not only for emerging market economies. “Cities of the established developed economies should see this as more of an opportunity than a threat. It gives them opportunities to specialise in areas where they have potential comparative advantages in fast-growing global markets,” he pointed out.

Tables: Richest cities in 2005 | Richest cities in 2020

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THE MOST EXPENSIVE AND RICHEST CITIES IN THE WORLD

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ECA International survey (2011): Introduction | Table: World | Table: Europe | Table: Asia |

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EIU survey (2012): Most expensive cities

RICHEST CITIES BY GDP
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The shortlist of mayors for the 2012 World Mayor Prize have been announced. VOTE NOW FOR THE WINNER


Introducing
World Mayor
The shortlist for the 2012 World Mayor Prize includes five mayors from North America, four from Latin America, seven from Europe, five from Asia, two from Australasia and two mayors from Africa.



The City Mayors Foundation, the international think tank for local government, organises the World Mayor Project and awards the World Mayor Prize. The Prize, which has been given since 2004, honours mayors with the vision, passion and skills to make their cities incredible places to live in, work in and visit. The World Mayor Project aims to show what outstanding mayors can achieve and raise their profiles nationally and internationally.

The organisers of the World Mayor Project are looking for city leaders who excel in qualities like: leadership and vision, management abilities and integrity, social and economic awareness, ability to provide security and to protect the environment as well as the will and ability to foster good relations between communities from different cultural, racial and social backgrounds. The winner receives the artistically acclaimed World Mayor trophy, while the two runner-ups are given the World Mayor Commendation.

Mayors wishing to be considered for the World Mayor Prize will be asked to sign up to the City Mayors' Code of Ethics



2012 timetable
Nominations were accepted until the 17 May 2012. A shortlist of 25 nominees was published on 18 June. VOTING IS NOW TAKING PLACE and will continue until the middle of October. The winner of the 2012 World Mayor Prize and other results of the World Mayor Project will be announced in early December 2012.



Winners and runners-up
2004 to 2010
In 2004: Winner: Edi Rama (Tirana, Albania); Runner-up: Andrés Manuel López Obrador (Mexico City, Mexico); In third place: Walter Veltroni (Rome, Italy)
In 2005: Winner: Dora Bakoyannis (Athens, Greece); Runner-up: Hazel McCallion (Mississauga, Canada); In third place: Alvaro Arzú (Guatemala City, Guatemala)
In 2006: Winner: John So (Melbourne, Australia); Runner up: Job Cohen (Amsterdam, Netherland); In third place: Stephen Reed (Harrisburg, USA)
In 2008: Winner: Helen Zille (Cape Town, South Africa); Runner up: Elmar Ledergerber (Zurich, Switzerland); In third place: Leopoldo López (Chacao, Venezuela)
In 2010: Winner: Marcelo Ebrard (Mexico City, Mexico); Runner-up: Mick Cornett (Oklahoma City, USA); In third place: Domenico Lucano (Riace, Italy)