Kottayam: The major cities in Kerala, such as Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Thrissur, and Kottayam, have been ranked as significantly better places to live than the Indian megacities like Delhi, Mumbai, and Chennai, according to the Oxford Economics Global Cities Index.
The index has been prepared by evaluating 1,000 largest cities across the globe on five parameters. These parameters which have different weightage include economics, human capital, quality of life, environment, and governance. Of these parameters, the urban centres in Kerala have fared much better than their counterparts in terms of quality of life.
India's capital city Delhi, financial capital Mumbai and IT hub Bengaluru are behind Thiruvananthapuram, Kottayam, Thrissur, and Kochi in the quality of life list.
This list has been prepared by taking into account the benefits of living in each city and residents' well-being, covering various aspects such as financial and health outcomes, accessibility of amenities, factors that prompt migration to a city, lower cost of accommodation, tourism and cultural amenities, and internet speed, among other things. When ranked based on quality of life, Thiruvananthapuram is ranked 748, followed by Kottayam at 753, Thrissur at 757, and Kochi at 765. Conversely, Delhi is ranked 838, Hyderabad 882, Bengaluru 847, and Mumbai 915.
Despite their lower quality of life rankings, Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru have secured higher overall positions compared to other Indian cities, which outperformed them in this aspect. Delhi stands as the best-performing Indian city at 350, Mumbai at 427, and Bengaluru at 411 in the overall rankings. Kochi, meanwhile, stands at 521 and Thrissur at 550. Other cities from Kerala fall below 600 in the rankings.
New York ranks first on the index, followed by London. The overall city ranking was determined by Economics (30%), Human Capital (25%), Quality of Life (25%), Environment (10%), and Governance (10%).