Luxembourg Crowned the Most Productive City in the World

According to Business Name Generator, Luxembourg tops the list of most productive cities in the world, to help business leaders determine the best global locations for employee and business productivity,

Business Name Generator analysed 52 global cities against various economic and lifestyle factors, including the quality of life and healthcare in each city, as well as GDP per hour worked and GDP per capita.

Luxembourg ranked as the best worldwide city for productivity overall. In particular, Luxembourg as a country ranks second for employee economic performance, seeing the highest GDP per capita ($140,150) and also the second highest GDP per hour worked ($100.17). 

The city also ranks as the third best place for fostering a productive environment when considering just lifestyle factors, with a high score of 203 for its quality of life (out of 240), and one of the lowest levels of noise and light pollution (29 out of 100). Those employees who commute to work also tend to spend just 26 minutes per day doing so. 

In second place for overall productivity is Oslo, Norway. Norway ranks particularly high on the economic productivity list, with the third-highest GDP per capita ($114,932) and GDP per hour worked ($84.27) of all countries analysed. Oslo as a city ranks a little lower when considering only lifestyle metrics (9th place), but it does have a relatively high healthcare index (79) and quality of life (176). Reykjavik, Iceland, rounds off the top three most productive cities in the world. 

Looking at only country-level GDP per hour worked and country GDP per capita, Ireland ranks as the best country in the ranking for economic productivity, with GDP per hour worked at $131.57 and GDP per capita in Ireland at $127,146. 

However, Dublin is way down in 42nd place for lifestyle factors, thanks to issues such as a low healthcare index (51), high commuting averages of 41 minutes, and a quality of life score of just 138. 

Looking at only lifestyle factors, Reykjavik in Iceland ranks as the best city for fostering a productive environment for employees to thrive. The city has the lowest commuting time of all cities analysed at 22 minutes, and also the lowest noise and light pollution score of 19. Quality of life in the city is also ranked high, with a score of 184.

However, when looking solely at country-wide economic productivity indicators, Iceland slips to 14th place on the list. Its GDP per capita is almost half the number of Luxembourg ($69,616) and GDP per hour worked in the city is the lowest of all locations in the overall top five, at $65.79. 

Linus Näslund, Chief Operating Officer at Business Name Generator stated “There’s so many components to consider when starting a business, so doing your research ahead of time can help ease the process. You’ll need to look into things like who your target audience is, how much they’ll be willing to pay, where you might fit into the market, and who your competitors are. As part of your research, you’ll also need to look at which location is going to be best for your business. You’ll need to consider which area makes the most sense in terms of where your potential customer base is, as well as things like proximity to your suppliers, and how saturated a place is with competitors. As our study has shown, where your business is based can also play a big part in productivity levels, so you should also consider where will foster the best working environment for you and your employees in the long run.”

Methodology & Sources 

Business Name Generator pulled together a seedlist of 52 cities in OECD and ASEAN countries.

All metrics were scored to create an on overall index of most productive cities. GDP per hour worked and GDP per capita were also scored separately to create an index for most economically productive countries. The remaining metrics were then also scored to create a separate index for the best cities for fostering a productive lifestyle for employees. They also looked at the cities and countries with the longest working week (metric not included in overall ranking).