Top 15 Countries and Global Cities

In November, I looked at how my list of the Top 15 countries squared with the G-20 group that met in Washington to tackle the global economic crisis. We found significant overlap. Let’s now look at another list—Foreign Policy’s global cities index. Since global cities are about population and political and economic clout, there should be considerable overlap between the two rankings.

And there is. Every “country” (I count the European Union as a mega-country, and give it two slots in my Top 15) has at least one global city on Foreign Policy’s list of 60, with the exception of Iran. While Tehran is big, it isn’t “global” in its connections. Otherwise, the overlap is complete.

And do the global cities overlap with the top countries? Well, of the top 20 global cities, all are located in my top 15 countries except for:

➢ Singapore, ranked #7 and associated with neighboring Indonesia (#9 on my list), while Indonesia’s biggest city, Jakarta, ranks well behind Singapore at #48;

➢ Seoul, ranked #9, capital of South Korea, which though outside the top 15, is in my top 20 countries, and;

➢ Sydney, ranked #16, and Australia is a G-20 member.

Also, the next 19 cities (21-39) are all in countries in my Top 20 or the G-20. To a great extent, therefore, Foreign Policy’s index of global cities affirms my Top 15/Top 20 and the G-20 lists of countries.