Dubai breaks into the Top 30 Global Cities ranking for the first time, according to JLL’s annual Global Cities Ranking, ‘Global300’ survey focused on evaluating 300 cities that are centered around commercial real estate activity.

Ranking 27th place out of the 300 cities surveyed, Dubai has moved up the ranking in each successive year from 36th place in 2014 highlighting the city’s growing global influence and efforts to boost corporate attraction ahead of Expo 2020. This ranking is assessed on a range of different social, demographic and economic indices that have been combined to provide a score of a city’s overall commercial attractiveness.

“Dubai may have a relatively low population in comparison to other cities globally, around 2.5 million, but has long punched above its weight,” said Craig Plumb, Head of Research MENA, JLL. “In doing so, the city has achieved a true global presence and significant influence and this status is confirmed by Dubai’s place in the world’s Top 30 Cities in our latest Global Cities rankings,” he added.

The Top 300 cities covered by JLL now account for 18% of the global population, 40% of the world’s economic output and more than 70% of total global real estate investment. The rankings are defined by both people and economic activities in the world’s largest cities over the past 10 years.

Dubai has improved it’s score in office and corporate presence and air passenger arrivals , as the city paves way for becoming the regional hub for both business and leisure travel. Increased corporations are using Dubai as the base for their expansion plans into the Middle East and Africa, while there has also been a growth among Chinese corporates, developers and tourists.

In the Middle East, Dubai has emerged as a top leader in terms of commercial real estate attraction with other cities in the region such as Cairo, ranked at 51 and Muscat, with a ranking of 170 out of the 300 global cities analysed by JLL.