No 10 Brussels

Score: 34.3

2018 Rank: 10

2017 Rank: 11

New York, London and Paris continued to cement their status as the world's top three most competitive and influential cities in 2018, according to the latest Global Cities Report recently released by AT Kearney, a global management consultancy.

New York performed strongly in business activity, human capital and cultural experience.

China has two cities among the top ten of the Global Cities Index list: Hong Kong at the 5th place and Beijing at 9th.

The index evaluates the performance of 135 cities in the world in terms of 27 metrics across five dimensions: business activity, human capital, information exchange, cultural experience and political engagement.

This year, the list includes 27 Chinese cities compared to only seven in 2008 when the report was initiated to rank cities in the light of their global standing, competitiveness and potential.

China's Shanghai and Taipei are ranked 19th and 45th this year and China's key cities have witnessed greater progress than cities in the other regions of the world during the past decade of the Global Cities research, said the report.

The report, the eight edition of its kind, also includes the Global Cities Outlook list, which measures the future potential of these cities in line with 13 metrics across four dimensions: personal well-being, economics, innovation and governance.

Here are the top ten most competitive cities on the Global Cities Index: