New York ranked first and Tokyo sixth among 120 major cities in the world in terms of competitiveness, according to a survey report released Monday by Citigroup Inc. and the research arm of The Economist magazine.
London and Singapore came in second and third, followed by Paris and Hong Kong tied for fourth place.
The report ranks cities in eight categories of competitiveness, including economic strength, human capital, institutional effectiveness, social and cultural character, and environment and natural hazards.
While many European and U.S. cities earned high rankings overall, Asian cities dominated the top rankings in the economic strength category. In this most highly weighted category, 15 of the top 20 cities are in Asia, and 12 of them are in China.
Among other Japanese cities, Osaka ranked 47th, Nagoya 50th and Fukuoka 63rd.
"Cities are engines of prosperity and innovation. . . . But as cities vie for investment, talent and business, we recognize that competitiveness is about more than growth," said Citigroup Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit.