Karachi was ranked a low 918th in the Oxford Economics Global Cities Index, while Islamabad and Lahore were placed 578th and 878th, respectively. The index surveyed the 1,000 largest urban economies worldwide, with New York and London claiming the top two positions.
The Global Cities Index assessed cities based on twenty-seven factors across five categories: economics, human capital, quality of life, environment, and governance.
Mark Britton, Director of City Services at Oxford Economics, commented in the report, “Cities are the epicentres of human civilization, where innovation, diversity, and progress converge. However, our understanding of what makes a truly successful city is often clouded by the complexity of urban dynamics.”
Islamabad, the highest-ranked Pakistani city, scored 772 in Quality of Life and 775 in Environment. Karachi, however, performed poorly in the human capital category, which evaluates the collective knowledge and skills of a city’s population and their economic potential, scoring only 612. It did somewhat better in governance and environment, both scoring 851, and in quality of life, also with 851 points.
