5 Most Attractive Capital Cities for Immigrants and Investors

The most attractive capitals for newcomers, capital flows, and business investment are London, Tokyo, Paris, Singapore, and Berlin.

This assessment is included in the 2021 Global Power City Index research report released by the Institute for Urban Strategies-The Mori Memorial Foundation (MMF).

In the report, MMF measured the "magnetism" of major cities globally across various aspects, including economics, culture, and quality of life.

Here are the details of the benchmarks used by MMF in assessing city attractiveness:

1. Regional Economy

MMF assessed a city's attractiveness based on common economic indicators such as Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP), per capita income, minimum worker wages, and the ease and risk of doing business in the city.

2. Innovation Capacity

In addition to economic indicators, city attractiveness was also assessed based on supporting innovation aspects, such as the quality of universities, the number of highly educated people, and the budget allocated by the city government to encourage local research and development.

3. Cultural Interaction

An attractive city is able to attract many people from both within and outside the country. Therefore, MMF assessed the city's cultural interaction based on the number of tourist destinations in the city, the frequency of internationally-renowned events, the number of entertainment facilities, and the quality of accommodation for international tourists.

4. Quality of Life

MMF also assessed city attractiveness based on the quality of life of its citizens. The indicators assessed include unemployment rates, rental prices, house prices, crime rates, and the risk of local natural disasters.

5. Environmental Sustainability

MMF assessed environmental sustainability based on the city's cleanliness, the use of renewable energy, carbon emissions produced by residents, water quality, and the local government's commitment to preventing climate change.

6. Accessibility

Finally, MMF assessed city attractiveness in terms of accessibility, such as the number of domestic and international flights in the city, the quality of public transportation, and traffic congestion levels.

Most Attractive Capitals

Based on all the assessment indicators above, the capitals with the highest attractiveness scores according to MMF are as follows:

1. London: score 1.644
2. Tokyo: score 1.411
3. Paris: score 1.350
4. Singapore: score 1.232
5. Berlin: score 1.172

Jakarta, as the capital city of Indonesia, only received a score of 714, meaning it has low attractiveness for newcomers, capital flows, and investment on a global scale.

In the MMF report, Jakarta even ranked 45th out of 48 major cities in the world.