Forget Hong Kong, Shenzhen is Asia's best-performing city

While world-class cities such as Hong Kong and Singapore may be the regional headquarters of various financial giants, they don't necessarily perform well in the areas of job creation and growth.

According to The Milken Institute Best-Performing Cities Asia index, Hong Kong ranked 14^th among Asia’s fastest-growing and most dynamic cities, while Singapore ranked eighth, behind Beijing and Kuala Lumpur.

Shenzhen in China captured the top spot as the best-performing city in Asia, followed by Guangzhou and Chengdu in second and third place. In fact, Chinese cities took six of the top 10 spots on the report.

“This seems especially fitting as Shenzhen was the birthplace of China’s modern economy over three decades ago,” the report stated.

“It is now attempting a transition to a higher value-added, indigenous-based economic development model.”

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The index ranked 24 global Asian cities based on their economic performance. It measured growth in jobs, household income and high value-added industries over five years (2008-2013) to adjust for extreme variations in business cycles.

Hong Kong ranked 9^th when it came to growth in jobs, 17^th in household income growth, and 21^st in high value-added industry growth between 2012-2013.

“South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan have been investing in and reinventing their infrastructure since their economic growth took off,” the study stated.

“However, these economies are small and geographically concentrated.”

The 10 best-performing cities in Asia 2014

1. Shenzhen (Guangdong), China2. Guangzhou (Guangdong), China3. Chengdu (Sichuan), China4. Tianjin, China5. Delhi, India6. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia7. Beijing, China8. Singapore, Singapore9. Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam10. Shanghai, China

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