All hail the underdogs: Manila, Jakarta to kick Singapore off its high chair in global city rankings

20 years is all it takes.

Singapore could be in for a series of shocking unfortunate events in 20 years' time, as Southeast Asia's underdog cities Jakarta and Manila are predicted to progress and even overtake Singapore and Hong Kong in the list of the world's top global cities. 

According to Chicago-based A.T. Kearney’s “Emerging Cities Outlook,” two Southeast Asian cities, Jakarta and Manila, head up the list of emerging cities most likely to progress.

Here's more from the report;

Although both cities are currently in the lower half of the GCI on the dimension of business activity, their rapid improvement on the ECO's leading indicators would allow them to reach the business leaders faster than any other low- or middle-income city in the world except Sao Paulo.

Furthermore, Jakarta is moving up quickly in the area of human capital-particularly in measures of stability and security, but also in addressing income inequality and environmental concerns-as well as across several important innovation indicators.

Manila, too, is bolstered by a relatively sharp increase in human capital indicators, with an especially notable improvement in healthcare quality and availability.

Another Southeast capital, Kuala Lumpur, is also among the top 10 cities in the ECO; Kuala Lumpur is the city that will most likely catch up with the leaders in terms of the ease of doing business.

Jakarta, Manila, and Kuala Lumpur's strong showing on the ECO signals that major cities throughout eastern Asia are laying solid groundwork to advance as global cities and eventually dispute the top positions in the GCI.