Now in its 22nd edition, the Barcelona Observatory is an initiative promoted jointly with the Chamber of Commerce, analysing data from different international reports.

Global competitiveness

According to the Global Power City Index, by the Mori Memorial Foundation, Barcelona has climbed three place and ranks 19^th in the world and 9^th in Europe.

The city stands out as a favourite for working abroad, according to the report Decoding Global Talent 2024, by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG). Based on a survey of 150,000 people from 188 countries, the report puts Barcelona in eighth place, ahead of cities such as Tokyo, Los Angeles and Paris.

Barcelona also consolidates its position as the eighth most attractive city in the world (fifth in Europe) for visitors, entrepreneurs and resident, according to the 2025 World’s Best Cities Report, where it particularly stands out in categories such as liveability and friendliness.

Leader in research and development

As for foreign investment projects and research and development centres, Barcelona ranks second in the world and first in Europe, according to the Global Cities Investment Monitor 2024. Between 2018 and 2023 the city attracted 184 investment projects, two thirds of them from European companies.

This result comes in addition to the city’s good position in scientific academic production, with 22,688 publications, making it the sixth city in Europe and twentieth in the world in this area.

Foreign investment

Barcelona climbs five sports in the EY Attractiveness Survey Europe 2024 for the most attractive cities in Europe for foreign investment, where it comes out in fifth position. In addition, the city occupies the tenth spot in attracting foreign investment from companies with no existing presence in the country and the ninth spot for investment in artificial intelligence.

Organising congresses

Barcelona has spent the last 22 years among the top five cities for holding congresses and conventions, according to the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA).

It is also the only city in Europe with two teaching institutions (IESE and ESADE) in the top six for MBAs by business schools.

Recognition for mobility and public transport

The Urban Mobility Readiness Index 2024 ranks Barcelona twelfth in the world for sustainable urban mobility, nine places higher than its 2023 position, in a ranking headed by Helsinki, Oslo and Amsterdam. The city ranks 23^rd in terms of pedestrian infrastructures and the implementation of pioneering public transport projects.

Barcelona makes it into the top thirty maritime cities for the first time, according to The Leading Maritime Cities of the World, which compares the main fifty maritime cities around the globe in relation to five pillars: shipping centres, finances and maritime law, maritime technology, ports and logistics, and attractiveness and competitiveness. The city ranks 27^th.

Barcelona comes out ninth among the world’s most resilient cities, and fourth in Europe in the Resilient Cities Index, complied by The Economist group, thanks to aspects such as mobility in public transport for residents and the integration of vulnerable people, where the city occupies second place.

Growth in entrepreneurial activity and the technological ecosystem

The rate of entrepreneurial activity (TEA) among the resident population of the province of Barcelona stands at 8.3%, up by one per cent on the previous year and above the Spanish average (6.8%). The TEA among women in the city (7.3%) comes out well above the figure for Spain as a whole (6.1%) and countries such as Germany (6%), Slovenia (5%) and Norway (4.9%).

Barcelona ranks eighth in Europe in attracting technological investment, according to the State of European Tech 2024, by the consulting company Atomico. Between 2015 and 2024 the city received a total of 6,300 million dollars from international investors, a sixfold increased compared to the previous decade.

The city also stands out as the fifth ecosystem for start-ups in the European Union and 38^th in the world in 2024, according to the Global Startup Ecosystem Index 2024, which takes into account around 1,000 cities in 100 countries in the world.

The Barcelona Observatory report can be found in full here.