MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Mexico, Buenos Aires and Sao Paulo among world's richest cities

México, Buenos Aires and Sao Paulo are among the twenty richest cities in the world according to a report on population evolution and the economy of the main capital cities, from consultants PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The survey considers 151 major cities of the plant based on their per capita GDP and the purchasing power of each resident based on the cost of living, a hypotheses which enables to compare living standards in different countries. Tokyo, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Paris, London, Osaka, Mexico, Philadelphia and Washington are head of the list with Buenos Aires rated in position 13; Sao Paulo 19 and Rio do Janeiro 30. In Spain two cities managed to be among the leading forty, Madrid in position 12 and Barcelona, 31. A similar survey from 2005 which includes the thirty cities with the highest per capita income, only five belong to emerging economies: Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, Moscow and Rio do Janeiro. Of the 25 cities, 16 belong to United States. The thirty leading cities of the world concentrate 16% of the global GDP and the two richest Tokyo and New York have a larger GDP than Spain or Canada. Of the 151 cities considered 81 belong to emerging countries which represented 27% of the global GDP, but this is forecasted to change by 2020 reaching 35%. The capital cities which will be loosing positions belong to the "old Europe": Rome, Milan, Vienna, Berlin, plus Naples, Helsinki, Zurich, Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Budapest. The report concludes that in the industrialized countries, cities which will achieve a higher degree of development in the future are those with competitive advantages in the knowledge economy plus financial and consumer services. The ten strongest in 2020 are in the following order: Tokyo, New York, Los Angeles, London, Chicago, Paris, Mexico City, Philadelphia, Osaka and Washington.