More Than a Number: Why 251 Cities

This year’s edition includes 251 cities. One of them, due to exceptional circumstances, has been included outside the scoring framework and is not compared with the others.

In line with the study methodology, we do not assess cities affected by ongoing military conflict. This year, however, we have chosen to include Kyiv symbolically, as a tribute to the resilience, dignity, and courage of its people, and in the hope that the near future will allow us to focus not on survival in wartime, but on the development of Kyiv, other Ukrainian cities, and all those cities around the world whose future is still overshadowed by war.