Asia emerging as a new center of global growth, finds Oliver Wyman analysis

Asia is emerging as a new center of global growth, according to a comprehensive ranking of 1,500 cities from Oliver Wyman, which shows that traditional Western strongholds are facing intense competition from dynamic Asian markets.

Tokyo leads the global pack as the top city poised to support business advancement over the next decade, while capitals like Seoul, Shanghai, and Beijing have also secured dominant positions within the global top 10. Multinational organizations are increasingly expanding their geographic footprints to tap into these fast-growing markets and build long-term operational resilience.

The extensive study evaluated locations based on more than 50 indicators across critical dimensions including commercial vibrancy, technological innovation, and connectivity. The findings reveal that while established giants like New York and London remain central hubs for finance, the fundamental landscape of wealth and operational density is shifting rapidly toward the Eastern hemisphere.

Asia is home to the most cities that the study found to be highly connected, with 15 such cities, compared with five in Europe and three in North America. Many of the top Asian cities are indeed major transportation hubs, home to major ports, and have good road and air connectivity both regionally and internationally.

Shifting the corporate balance

The study highlighted that international business density is a core driver of city leadership, with major concentrations of corporate operations shortening the time required for businesses to scale up. In the category of global market connectivity – which measures international flight links, port capacities, and container ship sailings – Asia outpaced all other regions by placing 89 cities in the top tier.

This massive infrastructure footprint supports a dense web of commerce. For instance, a staggering 32 of the top 100 commercial hubs in the report are located in recently emerged markets such as Guangzhou and Chennai. Localized urban clusters are multiplying this regional competitiveness.

It is hard to overstate the immense productivity of China’s major cities. Six out of the world’s top 10 container ports are in China, in cities like Shanghai, Ningbo, and Shenzhen. The interconnected triangle of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou creates an economic ecosystem with a combined gross domestic product of $1.4 trillion, housing 48 million people within a short rail commute.

Midsize cities rising fast

While megacities command significant attention, a parallel wave of economic growth is occurring in midsize Asian urban centers. Driven by supply chain realignments, expanding consumer bases, and dedicated national policies, smaller cities are capturing substantial pieces of the global investment pie. Emerging-market midsize cities are projected to inject roughly $7 trillion into global consumption over the next five years.

Here again, China is in the lead, with a total of 345 cities with a population between 250,000 and 1 million. India, however, is not far behind, with 302 such medium-sized cities.

The data illustrates that Asia possesses an unmatched volume of these high-performing secondary hubs, containing 1,190 cities with populations exceeding 250,000. Industrial shifts and outsourcing trends are fueling rapid economic expansions in Indian cities like Surat, Ahmedabad, and Hyderabad.

This decentralization provides a vast array of fresh opportunities for private capital and multinational corporations looking to establish operations outside of saturated, high-cost metropolitan zones. This trend can be seen elsewhere in the world with cities like Hamburg, Seville, or Austin (USA).

Innovation and AI leadership

A major engine behind this regional surge is tech leadership. Cities are locked in a fierce global showdown to secure the specialized workforce necessary to sustain the modern knowledge economy. Half of the executives surveyed by the Oliver Wyman Forum identified talent attraction and retention as a top priority for their firms.

Asia again stands out, with regional cities positioning themselves favorably by fostering deep talent pools through top-tier universities and supportive startup ecosystems. China is executing a deliberate strategy to embed application-focused AI across its manufacturing sectors. This integration allows advanced industrial centers like Shenzhen, Hefei, and Hangzhou to continually optimize production efficiencies, keeping them at the absolute forefront of global technological change.

The study posits that future market dominance will belong to corporations that treat geographic deployment as a fluid portfolio, shifting resources to municipal leaders who actively future-proof their local infrastructure against extreme weather disruptions.

“Globalization is far from dead, and cities are living proof,” note the authors of the report. “The average multinational company currently operates in more than 120 cities. That number will increase as technology, economic and demographic growth, and changing trade policies create new business opportunities.”