The 300 richest cities in the world, including the 20 richest cities in the world by 2015 GDP per Capita, are responsible for over 50% of the total output produced in the world. These cities unsurprisingly belong to countries which have a stable, well performing economy, a high literacy rate, a high rate of employment and can boast low crime rates as well. These cities tend to enjoy a high standard of living as well, with an extremely low poverty rate. If you find this interesting, you might also want to discover previous article on the same topic, the top 10 richest cities in the world.
Unfortunately, while we can easily access the projected data for the GDP per capita in 2015 for countries, prepared by the International Monetary Fund, there is no such data available for cities. However, we do have reports regarding the GDP per capita for cities in 2014, which have been prepared by Brookings, by analysing the US Census Bureau, Moody’s Analytics and Oxford Economics.
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We have then compared the projected GDP per capita for countries in 2015 with the GDP per capita for countries in 2014, and noted the percentage. We have applied this percentage to the Brookings report detailing the GDP per capita for cities in 2014, and hence, created a projection for the 20 richest cities in the world by 2015 GDP per capita.
It should come as no surprise that this list is utterly dominated by the world’s premier superpower, the United States of America, which has an incredible 10 cities on this list alone. Meanwhile, 9 of the remaining 10 spots belong to the continent of Europe, with the only other place going to Australia. While China is also competing to become a superpower in its own right and Russia is trying to regain lost glory, it is interesting to note that there is not a single Asian city which has made this list. This may lend credence to the belief that Asia has a lot of work to do if it wants to catch up with the United States of America and China. Even countries in the Middle East such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which are counted among the richest countries in the world, do not have a single country, which shows that maybe the wealth generated by the huge reserves of oil is not being appropriately utilized.
Furthermore, the strength of these cities, and more importantly, their countries, can be seen by the fact that in the projections made by the International Monetary Fund for GDP per capita in 2015, of all the countries whose cities are featured on this list, there isn’t a single country where the GDP per capita has been estimated to fall in 2015. This is a sign of how well the cities are performing and that this trend is expected to continue in the foreseeable future.
20. Luxembourg Trier, Luxembourg
GDP per capita in 2014: $63,350
Projected GDP per capita in 2015: $64,124
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19. Munich, Germany
GDP per capita in 2014: $63,350
Projected GDP per capita in 2015: $64,124
18. Calgary, Canada
GDP per capita in 2014: $64,540
Projected GDP per capita in 2015: $65,806
17. Houston, United States of America
GDP per capita in 2014: $63,730
Projected GDP per capita in 2015: $65,860
16. Dublin, Ireland
GDP per capita in 2014: $63,600
Projected GDP per capita in 2015: $66,088
15. Portland, United States of America
GDP per capita in 2014: $64,370
Projected GDP per capita in 2015: $66,521
14. New York, United States of America
GDP per capita in 2014: $64,460
Projected GDP per capita in 2015: $66,614
13. Perth, Australia
GDP per capita in 2014: $65,500
Projected GDP per capita in 2015: $67,157
12. San Francisco, United States of America
GDP per capita in 2014: $66,790
Projected GDP per capita in 2015: $69,022
11. Seattle, United States of America
GDP per capita in 2014: $67,830
Projected GDP per capita in 2015: $70,097
10. Washington D.C., United States of America
GDP per capita in 2014: $68,530
Projected GDP per capita in 2015: $70,820
9. Bridgeport, United States of America
GDP per capita in 2014: $68,570
Projected GDP per capita in 2015: $70,862
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8. Paris, France
GDP per capita in 2014: $70,760
Projected GDP per capita in 2015: $71,888
7. Macau,
GDP per capita in 2014: $67,780
Projected GDP per capita in 2015: $72,628
6. Boston, United States of America
GDP per capita in 2014: $70,390
Projected GDP per capita in 2015: $72,743
5. Geneva, Switzerland
GDP per capita in 2014: $74,580
Projected GDP per capita in 2015: $75,406
4. Hatford, United States of America
GDP per capita in 2014: $76,510
Projected GDP per capita in 2015: $79,067
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3. San Jose, United States of America
GDP per capita in 2014: $77,440
Projected GDP per capita in 2015: $80,028
2. Oslo, Norway
GDP per capita in 2014: $82,040
Projected GDP per capita in 2015: $82,662
1. Zurich, Switzerland
GDP per capita in 2014: $82,410
Projected GDP per capita in 2015: $83,323
It is no surprise to learn that Zurich, located in one of the world’s wealthiest and happiest countries is number one in the 25 cities with the highest GDP per capita in 2015, a title which it held in 2014 as well. This is mainly due to the extremely high standard of living maintained in the city.
