City Attractiveness
Index CAI
Explore urban centres and compare how their 2020–2025 population change differs from expected natural growth, adjusted approximately for city age composition.
The City Attractiveness Index estimates how strongly a city attracts and retains population relative to its size, after accounting for expected births and deaths. It is designed primarily to compare cities within the same country, reflecting the combined effects of economic, social, environmental, and other conditions on actual population change.
How we calculate CAI →- Choose a country. CAI works best for comparisons within one country; cross-border comparisons mix city differences with country-level conditions.
- Compare CAI scores. Higher scores suggest stronger population attraction after adjusting growth for expected births and deaths, age mix, and national demographic rates—not a direct count of movers.
- Filter by population. Compare cities of similar size instead of places 10 or 100 times larger.
Explore global rankings
Choose a size band or enter a custom minimum and maximum. The filtered results, country selection, sorting, and rankings update immediately.
CAI is most meaningful when comparing cities within the same country. The first column shows each city's rank within its country; international sorting is provided for exploration, not as an apples-to-apples ranking.
| In country | City | Country | 2025 pop. | Growth % | CAI pp |
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Compare two cities
Use “Add to comparison” in a city detailAge distribution: WorldPop 2020. Population change: GHSL R2023A population grids clipped to fixed urban-centre polygons. National rates: UN WPP 2024, 2020–2025 averages. Eight UK cities have WorldPop population consistency flags. See all assumptions and limitations.