Seoul Ranks 6th Among 48 Cities in Japanese Urban Competitiveness Assessment... London, Tokyo, and New York Take Top 3 Spots

Seoul Achieves Sixth Highest Score Among 48 Cities
Ranked by Economy, Research and Development, Culture and Interaction, and More

Seoul ranked sixth in the global major city competitiveness rankings released by the Mori Memorial Foundation's Institute for Urban Strategies, a Japanese think tank.

According to the "2025 Comprehensive City Power Ranking" released by the Mori Memorial Foundation on December 17, Seoul received the sixth highest score among 48 cities surveyed.

In the annual rankings published by the institute, Seoul dropped from sixth place in 2017 to eighth in 2020, but has since rebounded to reclaim the sixth spot as of last year.

Lotte World is presenting the Happy Christmas Parade. Photo to aid understanding of the article. Photo by The Asia Business Daily DB.

The Institute for Urban Strategies evaluates city competitiveness based on six categories: economy, research and development, culture and interaction, livability, environment, and transportation/accessibility. In this year's assessment, Seoul ranked 16th in economy, 5th in research and development, 12th in culture and interaction, 25th in livability, 11th in environment, and 11th in transportation/accessibility.

London St. Paul's Cathedral. Photo to aid understanding of the article. Pixabay.

London, United Kingdom, took the top spot in this year's rankings. Tokyo, Japan; New York, United States; Paris, France; and Singapore rounded out the top five. Amsterdam, Netherlands; Shanghai, China; Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE); and Berlin, Germany, ranked seventh through tenth, respectively.