Of 19 cities polled by Value Champion, a consumer research firm, Manila ranked 16th overall as best for millennials.
The poll, which “analyzed a wide range of economic, financial and social data,” ranked major cities in Asia Pacific in terms of their appeal to millennials and young adults. The list is topped by Singapore—which ranked first in terms of employment prospects and quality of life, and seventh in cost of living. Employment prospects, cost of living and quality of life were the categories created by Value Champion that it based on publicly available data from sources such as the World Bank, The Economist and Deutsche Bank.
“According to publicly available data, Singapore is the best city for millennials seeking to build a career and enjoy a great quality of life,” Value Champion said on its web site.
“Our analysis indicates that Singapore’s thriving economy provides strong job opportunities for young people. For example, the city had the highest GDP [gross domestic product] per capita [S$79,000] and the second-lowest unemployment rates [2.2 percent total, 3.96 percent for youth] of the 20 cities we studied, which suggests that individuals living in Singapore may find it relatively easier to find good-paying jobs. Furthermore, Singapore had the lowest gender wage gap. Additionally, Singapore’s low levels of pollution (4th) and high safety ratings (2nd) make it a great place for anyone to call home.
Tokyo, Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Melbourne were the second, third, fourth and fifth best cities, respectively, for millennials, according to Value Champion’s analysis it released on February 5.
Manila ranked 7th in terms of employment prospects, but was 14th in terms of quality of life, and 16th for cost of living. Three cities of India—Bangalore, Mumbai and New Delhi—ended the list at 18th with the latter two tied at 19th.
Bangkok was deemed better than Manila at 11th place, with Thailand deemed also posting the lowest unemployment rate at 1 percent. The Philippines’s, at 5.1 percent, was the third-highest following Indonesia (5.3 percent) and India (7.4 percent).
In measuring cost of living, Value Champion used a pint of beer as one measurement, with the lowest being in Ho Chi Minh City at S$1.18. Manila’s S$2.06 (about P79.35) is just S$0.02 higher than the price of pint of beer in Beijing (S$2.04).
A pint of beer is most expensive in Hong Kong (S$12.19) followed by Singapore (S$11.37).
In terms of Pollution Index, Value Champion ranked Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City at 94.60, followed by Beijing (91.90) and Manila (91.03). Singapore garnered a 33.94 index score; Melbourne had the lowest at 27.79.
Value Champions said it considered key factors in its analysis.
“For example, key factors that we considered for job prospects included GDP growth rates, GDP per capita, youth [15 to 24 years old] and total unemployment rates and the World Economic Forum’s Wage Equality Score for Similar Work. For the Cost of Living category, we considered average monthly rent for 39 square meters [or one-bedroom] of unfurnished living space, as well as the price of a pint of beer in each city,” Value Champion said. “We considered each of these costs in terms of GDP per capita in order to adjust for varying salaries in each city.”