Dubai ranks 3rd in attractiveness of cities for best international talents, says Sheikh Hamdan

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Executive Council, reviewed a report issued by Harvard Business Review on the attractiveness of cities to the best international talents.

The Crown Prince of Dubai confirmed that Dubai came in third place after London and New York.

Sheikh Hamdan said on X, “According to the recent report by the Harvard Business Review, which ranks global cities by talent flows, Dubai secured the 3rd position, after London and New York.

“This achievement reflects Dubai’s ongoing efforts to attract top global talents, professionals, and entrepreneurs.

“Our city’s commitment to developmental initiatives further contributes to Dubai’s Economic Agenda D33, which aims to be among the top 3 global economic cities by 2033 and the best city in the world to live in.”

On the other hand, recently, Dubai retained its leading position in the MENA region on Kearney's Global Cities Index, ranking 23rd globally and claiming a spot in the top 25 for the third consecutive year.

According to the report, prominent emerging hubs around the world, particularly in the Middle East, have seen incredible gains in their global city performance amid a changing profile of globalisation—and a new distributed geography of opportunity is emerging. Abu Dhabi, for instance, climbed ten spots on the global rankings as it strengthened its position as a leading international hub.

The Global Cities Index (GCI) seeks to quantify the extent to which a city can attract, retain, and generate global flows of capital, people, and ideas. Cities are measured against five key dimensions: Human Capital, Information Exchange, Cultural Experience, Political Engagement, and Business Activity.

Average GCI scores have remained steady following several years of decline, with cities in the Middle East and Africa improving markedly. In particular, the capitals of the Gulf nations made major improvements in their overall scores, with Riyadh, Muscat, and Doha improving their overall rankings by nine, eight, and seven, respectively.

This growth was primarily driven by strong performance in the Human Capital dimension, as they capitalised on the return to pre-pandemic levels of freedom of international travel to attract large volumes of migrant talent and tourism.