On June 24, a report on the competitiveness of Chinese cities in 2018 was co-released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Economic Daily. The report concerning the urban life, business environment and sustainable development, covers various metrics ranging from comprehensive economic competitiveness to sustainable competitiveness.

Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Shanghai rank top three in terms of comprehensive economic competitiveness. The report on the competitiveness of cities has been issued for several years on end. The most eye-catching indicator would be the comprehensive competitiveness since it represents the overall strength of a city.

Cities that see a rise in the ranking are as follows: Dongguan and Wuxi, moved up by three notches; cities including Chengdu, Xiamen, Nanjing, Changzhou, Suzhou, Hangzhou and Wenzhou climbed up two places.

Compared with 2017, the average ranking of northern cities in terms of comprehensive economic competitiveness declined by 6.2 places, the ranking of cities in central China rose by 2.5 places on average, while cities of south China rose by 4.6 notches on average in 2018. Overall, cities of the south have risen, and cities of the north have dropped. The north-south division has intensified.

While judging a city's development quality, apart from evaluating comprehensive strength metrics, it is also important to look at its sustainable competitiveness metrics, that’s to say, which city will develop better in the future. In the recent three years, Hong Kong has secured the top position in sustainable competitiveness.

Cities such as Taiyuan, Tangshan, Shijiazhuang, Jinan, Changchun, Xiamen, Changsha, Zhengzhou and Hefei have risen in sustainable competitiveness, of which the Tier-2 cities Taiyuan and Tangshan have recorded the greatest rising of 16 places and 14 places respectively. Ningbo, Wuhan, Xi’an, Fuzhou and Zhongshan have declined in the ranking of sustainable competitiveness.

In 2018, Hong Kong continued to rank top in the urban livable competitiveness index for the third year on end. According to the report, the top three factors for the variance in urban livable competitiveness are the vibrant economic environment, the quality education environment and the sound medical environment.

The top five cities in business competitiveness are Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou.

Hangzhou ranks third in livable competitiveness, sixth in sustainable competitiveness and seventh in business competitiveness.

(Executive Editor: Yongliu He)