Global Metro Monitor: Delhi among top ten best performing metro economies in the world

Large metro areas in China and Emerging Asia-Pacific dominate the list of fastest-growing economies from 2014 to 2016.

Delhi got 6^th position among world’s top 300 best performing metropolitan cities in the 5^th edition of Global Metro Monitor 2018 released by the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program.

Delhi is second largest metro area after Mumbai in India with annual per capita income of INR 3,29,093 (2017-18) which is three times the national average. The city has become a destination for people to migrate to look for better opportunities and high living standards.

The Global Metro Monitor captures how large metro areas are responding to continued changes in the world economy, and amidst concerns of rising place-based disparities, how these metro areas are growing relative to their surrounding nations and regions.

The study is based on a composite index combining employment and GDP per capita growth based on the size of economies in 2016 at Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) rates.   

Dublin is 1^st in the list followed by San Jose (USA) and Chengdu (China). Among the top 10 fast-growing metro cities five are from China.

Other Indian metropolitan cities that have been able to secure the place in top 100 metro cities include Hyderabad (14), Surat (19), Mumbai (23), Bengaluru (46), Kolkata (59), Ahmedabad (86), and Pune (88).

"Strong performers Delhi achieved the largest employment increase in India and Hyderabad boasting the fastest GDP per capita growth rate (8.7 percent)." says the report. Improvement in ranks for Delhi (75^th to 6^th), Surat (44^th to 19^th), and Mumbai (74^th to 23^rd) indicate towards the changing metro urban landscape in the country.  

"Metropolitan areas within the top 300 in China (55 new entrants), the Middle East and Africa (10), and the rest of the emerging Asia Pacific (8) have all increased, whereas metro areas in North America, Western Europe, and Advanced Asia-Pacific have lost 64 slots in total," says the report.

In Southeast Asia, Manila and Hanoi were also in the top quintile of performance. Metro cities in China and Emerging Asia-Pacific experienced the fastest GDP per capita growth in the world.

In Eastern Europe, Istanbul had the highest economic performance in the region, expanding GDP per capita by 3.9 percent.

Latin American metro cities experienced the slowest GDP per capita and employment growth.

Middle Eastern and African metro cities displayed the fastest employment growth.

North America and Western Europe experienced moderate growth during this period, but a strong showing in the technology sector propelled two Silicon Valley anchors (San Jose and San Francisco), into the top four of the report’s performance index.

“Between 2014 and 2016, the 300 largest metro areas accounted for 36 percent of global employment growth and 67 percent of global GDP growth,” says the report.

No Indian city is listed in the Lowest 30 performers in the index.