Tehran Plunges 31 Places

Mehdi Aghrayan, Member of the Tehran City Council: "What was most bitter for me in this report is the gap between Tehran's human capacity and its governance score. Tehran's score in human capacity is above 50. The exact figure should be reviewed again, but this data shows that Tehran does not face a serious shortage of people with knowledge, experience, and expertise. The question is why a city with such capacity receives a governance score of 10 out of 100?"

The new report "World Cities Index 2026" by Oxford Economics has ranked Tehran as 459 among the thousand cities of the world. In the 2025 edition of this report, Tehran was ranked 428 and has dropped 31 places within a year. Tehran's overall score in the new report is 43 out of 100, but the gap between the five main indicators shows a more accurate picture of the capital's situation.

Tehran's economy has scored 51 points. Human capital is 58.9. The quality of life has 48.5 points. Environment has reached 40.8 and Tehran's lowest score is dedicated to governance; Only 10 out of 100.

Referring to this report, Mehdi Akhararian, a member of the Tehran Islamic Council, said in an interview with "Sharq": "One of the topics that came up today was the drop in Tehran's ranking in the 2026 Oxford Economics report. In this ranking, Tehran is ranked 459 out of 1,000 cities in the world and has dropped by 31 places compared to 2025.

After examining the details of this report, he focused more on Tehran's score in the governance index and said: "Indices in this report are calculated out of 100, and Tehran has scored 10 in the field of governance. In my opinion, this number indicates a serious complication and the reasons for it should be discussed."

Of course, the score of 10 cannot be considered the score of Tehran municipality alone. In the governance section, Oxford Economics does not measure only the performance of local management and includes variables such as political and institutional stability, the quality of regulations and the rule of law, and the effectiveness of the government and the business environment in its calculations. Some of these variables are determined at the national level and are outside the authority of the municipality.

Eqararian also emphasizes that the governance situation in Tehran cannot be attributed only to the municipality, but he believes that part of the problem comes back to the way the city is administered.

He said: "I have already put forward a concept called drama governance. This concept also exists in the world literature and part of its studies come from the experience of municipalities and city management. When I examined these studies, I saw that some of their signs are close to the problems we have in the country and urban management today.

Human capital 58.9, governance 10

One of the noteworthy gaps in the 2026 report can be seen between the score of human capital and Tehran's governance. Human capital with a score of 58.9 is Tehran's best score among the five main areas of this index.

In this section, Oxford Economics examines factors such as the level of education and the state of the workforce, the quality of universities, the skills of human resources, and the city's ability to attract and retain specialists.

Akhararian considers this gap as one of the important parts of the report and said: "What was bitter for me in this report is the gap between Tehran's human capacity and the governance score. Tehran's score in the field of human capacities is above 50. Its exact number should be checked again, but this data shows that Tehran is not facing a serious shortage in terms of knowledge, experience and knowledge. The question is, why does a city with such a capacity score 10 out of 100 in the governance index?

The exact number of the human capital index in the Oxford Economics report is 58.9 out of 100; That is, the distance between these two indicators reaches about 49 points. Eqrarian looks for the answer to this gap in how to use the available capacity in the city. He said: "The elites and those who can be influential in the city administration and have words and ideas for Tehran's issues, are either not heard or their views are not given enough attention."

Akhararian related this issue to his experience in the sixth term of the city council and said: "My lived experience in these five years is that when we, as critics of Mr. Dr. Zakani's performance, raised a point or issue, we were faced with strong reactions in some cases. In cyberspace, we also witnessed the destruction of people who were not clear who they are and why they enter the destruction project instead of responding to criticism.

Akhararian: Tehran's development rail is wrong

This city council member does not consider Tehran's governance issue limited to the current administration. According to him, part of Tehran's problems today is the result of a pattern that has been formed over the years in the development of the capital and continues.

Akhararian said: "Railing the development of Tehran is wrong. This path started in the past and we are still moving on the same track. The increase in density and what I call the vicious circle of shopping malls is an example of this issue.

He added: "It is not a question that all the problems of Tehran today are the product of a period of urban management; The question is whether the previous pattern has been corrected or continued. We have to see what the city administration has done to change this path."

In the Oxford Economics report, Tehran's situation is not only weak in the governance sector; The quality of life in the capital has scored 48.5 out of 100 points.

In this index, factors such as income inequality, per capita income, housing costs, life expectancy, crime, and access to cultural and recreational facilities are examined.

Some of these variables are outside the direct authority of the municipality, but housing and access to municipal services, the quality of public space, and cultural and recreational facilities are some of the areas that municipal policies can affect.

The number 48.5 alone does not explain which factor contributed the most to Tehran's score drop, but it shows that the capital has not even reached 50 points in the set of indicators that shape the daily life experience of citizens.

The environmental situation is not better either; Tehran has scored 40.8 out of 100 points in this area. In the calculation of this index, not only air pollution is considered, but factors such as air quality, access to green space, climate hazards, the amount of pollutant emissions, and environmental resilience are also examined.

In the 2025 report, Tehran was also ranked 904 among thousands of cities in the environmental index. On the other hand, Tehran's economy with a score of 51 and human capital with 58.9 are still higher than other sectors. This is the difference that makes the question about how to run the city more prominent; A city that still has significant capacity in terms of human resources and economic weight, why is it down to 10 in governance?

Akhararian considered the reform of Tehran's governance system as one of the necessities of capital management and said: "The media, university professors and urban management elites should talk more about this issue. The city needs a space for criticism and dialogue, and this space should not be blocked by radical approaches.

Oxford Economics evaluates a thousand cities based on five areas of economy, human capital, quality of life, environment, and governance. The score of each section is calculated from zero to 100, and this institute says that the purpose of the index is not just to set a ranking table, but to show the strengths and weaknesses of cities and their future direction.

From this point of view, Tehran's drop from rank 428 to 459 is not just a change in a world table. While the capital has fallen 31 places, its best score is 58.9 in human capital, and in two areas that are directly related to the experience of administration and living in the city, the numbers are noticeably lower; Quality of life 48.5 and governance 10 out of 100.

Ekhararian also believes that this number can be the starting point of a broader discussion about the administration of Tehran. According to him, the discussion should not be limited to a period of city management, but should clarify what the current management has done to change the past.