Asia’s cities are reshaping the world
Asia’s High-Income Cities Are Rising Faster Than Ever
Cities in Asia will continue their march up global value chains through to 2050. This shift will reinforce trends in the world economy, with previously dominant advanced cities ceding market share in high-value sectors. Advanced manufacturing and business services have both seen rapid growth in markets across Asia and the Middle East in recent years, and cities in these regions will continue to lead future prospects.
Although emerging cities are dominating growth across advanced manufacturing and business services, there are notable within-region trends taking shape. Cities in Central and Eastern Europe are developing significant capabilities in finance, tech, and communications. And, in the US, southern metros are leading growth through the strength of their expanding tech sectors, as well as their growing high-value manufacturing and finance industries.
It is in Asia where the real momentum lies, with surging productivity and market scale reshaping the global economy. Over the next 25 years, Asian cities will add 54 million high-income households and, by 2050, will account for a third of the world’s urban high-income households—as many as in US cities.
The top eight cities for the largest increase in high-income households are in Asia, spanning already highly developed megacities like Seoul, through to Delhi, Jakarta, Shenzhen, and Shanghai. Chinese and Indian cities will increasingly surpass European cities’ living standards over the coming decades, embedding these growth trends.
Download the complete report for the full forecasts and city-level analysis.
