According to Oxford Economics' new 'Global Cities Index', Ghent ranks 9th in the world when it comes to quality of life. Quality of life is 1 of the 5 categories examined in the index. The other categories are economy, human capital, environment and governance. The cities of New York, London and San Jose (California – USA) score best overall.
Oxford Economics has published a new index in which it makes a "comprehensive assessment of the world's 1,000 largest urban economies". Based on 27 indicators across five categories, it ranks and determines the best cities in the world.
The US city of New York emerges as the winner. In second place is the British capital London and the US city of San Jose completes the top three. French capital Paris and the Swiss city of Zurich are the only European cities in the top 10.
The top 50 is dominated by American and European cities. Apart from the Japanese capital Tokyo in 4th place, Asia is only represented by the South Korean capital Seoul and Singapore in places 41 and 42.
Australian cities do fairly well in the overall ranking with Melbourne in 9th place, Sydney in 16th place and Perth in 23rd place.
27 indicators to look at
Ranking is based on 27 indicators divided into five categories: economy, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. Each category has 4 to 6 indicators that help determine what score out of 100 a city gets for that category.
To determine a city's quality of life score, for example, researchers look at life expectancy, per capita income, income equality, housing costs, culture and recreational opportunities in the city as well as internet speed.
The overall score out of 100 is determined by putting all 27 indicators together. Some indicators, such as GDP and employment growth, are seen as more important and are given greater weight than others.
Flanders also makes the ranking
In the 'quality of life' category, Ghent ranks 9th with a score of 93.5 out of 100, putting the East Flemish capital in the company of the Swiss cities of Bern, Basel and Zurich. The French city of Grenoble comes out on top in this category.