Singapore ranks 5th best city globally in study, ahead of Sydney and Seoul

Another year, another list. 

Singapore has come in fifth in a list of the world's best cities for 2025, according to global business-consulting firm Resonance.

The report ranks the overall performance of more than 270 cities worldwide.

London is crowned the world's best for the tenth year running, with New York City and Paris completing the top three.

Tokyo comes in at fourth and is also the highest ranking Asian city on the list.

The top 20 slots are mostly taken up by North American and European cities — with Sydney (10th), Dubai (13th) and Seoul (16th) being the only other entries outside of both regions.

Closer to home, Bangkok ranks 32nd, while Kuala Lumpur is 50th.

Zooming in on Singapore's performance, the report highlights the nation's two favoured pastimes — shopping and eating.

Ranking at 12th position globally for Shopping is a strong showing, and it isn't solely due to our well-known shopping belt along Orchard Road.

The report noted that places like the 24-hour Mustafa Centre department store in Little India allows for retail to be both a "daily habit and an art form" in Singapore.

The report also highlights the country's dining scene, which it describes as dynamic.

Singapore's culinary diversity, from Michelin-rated hawker establishments to numerous upscale dining options, ranks the country 19th in the report's Restaurants subcategory.

Something that might come as a surprise is Singapore's fairly high finish (8th) under the Biking subcategory.

This metric measures how good a city is for biking based on the density of mapped bike pathways.

Other qualities that the report mentioned include Singapore's exploring of "new modes of sustainable living", its position as a "key tech hub" and its economy.

Methodology

The study ranked the overall performance of more than 270 cities worldwide, specifically principal cities of metropolitan areas with a population of more than one million.

Livability, lovability and prosperity formed the three major categories of the study, with each of them having a set of metrics.

Performance data from these metrics was then combined with responses from more than 22,000 respondents across 30 countries to determine the world's best city.

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amierul@asiaone.com