Lagos, commercial capital of Nigeria, has been ranked as the fifth best African city with high desirability by people to live, work, and invest, according to a report by Brand Finance City Index 2023.

The ranking is based on a global survey of close to 15,000 members of the public conducted in April 2023 in 20 countries on all continents to measure perceptions of the world’s top 100 cities, the report reveals.

The survey puts Lagos at 56.7 per cent behind Cape Town (South Africa), Cairo (Egypt), Johannesburg (South Africa), and Casablanca (Morocco) as the first four best African cities with 62.9, 60.7, 59.7, and 59.3 per cents respectively.

Nairobi, capital of Kenya, also makes the chart by coming behind Nigeria, as sixth African city with 55.1 per cent. Cape Town, Cairo, Johannesburg, Casablanca, Lagos and Nairobi are the only six African countries that appear on the 100 world’s best cities as numbers 60, 67, 72, 76, 90, and 94 respectively on global rankings.

London (England) is crowned as the world’s best city brand in the ranking scoring 84.6 per cent, while New York (the United States) and Paris (France) come as 2nd and 3rd garnering 83.0 and 79.7 per cents respectively.

Speaking on the survey, the Chairman and CEO of Brand Finance, David Haigh said, “London’s exceptional performance in the Index can be attributed to its global familiarity.

“Coming first on this particular measure, London has a huge advantage over its peers, leading to its success in the ranking overall as the world’s best city.

“Knowing a city allows the public to form positive perceptions about it – to recognise its reputation and to consider it as the preferred place to live, work, study, retire, visit, or invest.

“High familiarity means a deeper understanding of its qualities and a broader reach of its appeal, allowing the city to draw significant economic benefits from inbound migration, investment, and tourism.”

However, Zurich (Switzerland) is the 17th on the global table with 72.0 per cent, but the report says is the best city in the world for investment alongside other factors to live and work.

“Zurich is a highly desirable destination to work locally, work remotely, invest, and retire, claiming the top spot for each dimension,” it said.

“The city scores exceptionally well on reputation (4th) and consideration (1st) when considering all seven dimensions combined too, but a low score on familiarity (53rd) prevents it from taking a higher spot in the overall Brand Finance City Index ranking (17th),” it adds.