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IMD Smart City Index 2025 Rankings: In the latest Smart City Index 2025 released by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD), Swiss cities continue to dominate.
Zurich retains its No. 1 spot, while Geneva climbs to third and Lausanne ranks 10th, reflecting Switzerland’s strong urban planning and citizen-centric infrastructure.
The Middle East has shown the most dramatic improvement, with Dubai having leapt from 12th to 4th place, and Abu Dhabi from 10th to 5th, signalling their rapid progress in sustainable infrastructure and digital services.
Meanwhile, Singapore, long considered a benchmark, slipped from fifth to ninth place.
Six new entrants joined the global rankings this year: AlUla (Saudi Arabia), Astana (Kazakhstan), Caracas (Venezuela), Kuwait City (Kuwait), Manama (Bahrain), and San Juan (Puerto Rico).
Although rankings remain stable with only minimal changes, there has been a significant shift in the global top 20 for 2025—Taipei City, the capital of Taiwan, has fallen from 16th to 23rd place, while Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, has made an impressive rise from 32nd to 16th.
IMD defines a smart city as “an urban setting that applies technology to enhance the benefits and mitigate the drawbacks of urbanisation for its citizens.” The ranking evaluates cities on five parameters: health and safety, mobility, activities, opportunities, and governance.
| Smart City Rank 2025 | City | Country | Smart City Rating 2025 | Smart City Rank 2024 | Change |
| 1 | Zurich | Switzerland | AAA | 1 | — |
| 2 | Oslo | Norway | AAA | 2 | — |
| 3 | Geneva | Switzerland | AAA | 4 | ▲1 |
| 4 | Dubai | UAE | A | 12 | ▲8 |
| 5 | Abu Dhabi | UAE | A | 10 | ▲5 |
| 6 | London | United Kingdom | AA | 8 | ▲2 |
| 7 | Copenhagen | Denmark | AAA | 6 | ▼1 |
| 8 | Canberra | Australia | AAA | 3 | ▼5 |
| 9 | Singapore | Singapore | AAA | 5 | ▼4 |
| 10 | Lausanne | Switzerland | AAA | 7 | ▼3 |
Source: IMD Smart City Index 2025
Methodology: The ranking assesses how urban technologies and infrastructure perform in five key areas –health and safety, mobility, activities, opportunities, and governance.
Indian cities continue to be part of the global smart city movement, but they remain outside the top 20.
| City | Smart City Rank 2025 | Smart City Rating 2025 |
| Delhi | 104 | CC |
| Mumbai | 106 | CC |
| Hyderabad | 109 | CCC |
| Bengaluru | 110 | CC |
Source: IMD Smart City Index 2025
While progress has been made in infrastructure, digital adoption, and citizen services, challenges in governance, mobility, and human development still place them lower in the global hierarchy.
