Almaty and Astana enter top 300 cities in the world

Tengrinews.kz – Two Kazakh major cities have entered the top 300 of the Global Cities Index 2026, compiled by Oxford Economics. Among 1,000 cities worldwide, Almaty ranked 265th, while Astana placed 281st. The Kazakh cities performed especially well in terms of human capital.

Almaty and Astana in the top third of the ranking

Kazakh major cities became leaders among Central Asian cities and ranked higher than many large cities in the post-Soviet space. In particular, Tbilisi ranked 287th, Kyiv 304th, Moscow 313th, Baku 323rd, Saint Petersburg 454th, and Bishkek 461st.

Thus, both Kazakh major cities entered the top third of the ranking of 1,000 cities.

Almaty and Astana enter top 100 for human capital

Almaty and Astana achieved particularly high positions in the human capital indicator. Almaty ranked 66th in the world, while Astana placed 98th, ahead of many world capitals, including Ankara, Warsaw, Prague, Tallinn and Moscow.

When assessing human capital, Oxford Economics takes into account the scale and quality of a city’s talent pool, the level of skills and education, the state of the labor market, as well as the ability to attract, develop and retain qualified specialists.

In terms of the economic indicator, Astana ranked higher than Almaty: the capital placed 264th, while Almaty ranked 288th.

What else Oxford economics considered

In addition to the economy and human capital, Oxford Economics considers quality of life, the environment and governance. Each of the five indicators is assessed separately, after which the overall city ranking is formed.

Oxford Economics describes the index as a tool for comparing the strengths and weaknesses of the world’s largest cities. The study uses economic forecasts and standardized qualitative data, so the ranking takes into account not only the current position of cities, but also their prospects.

New York, London and Paris still ahead

The top three in the Global Cities Index 2026 are New York, London and Paris. They retained their positions compared with the previous year.

A total of 1,000 cities were included in the ranking. Oxford Economics notes that the top positions are still largely occupied by cities in Europe and North America: 78 of the top 100 belong to these two regions.