Singapore dethrones Hong Kong as top city in ease of doing business ranking

Check out the top 10 cities.

Accordfing to PwC's Cities of Opportunities report, Singapore ranks first this year, up from second in 2011. Hong Kong is now second, although it was first last year.

As for numbers three, four, and five, they are the same cities in the same order as in 2011: New York, London, and Toronto.

"If there is a lesson here, it is that those cities that have created globally competitive business cultures understand what it takes to maintain their advantage—and that, of course, city policies and regulations, and their effects, do not change overnight. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the results scored by top-ranking Singapore. Its tally across the board is truly impressive: It finishes first in three variables, second in one, and third in two others. There is one variable in which it scores in a middling rank (foreign embassies or consulates) and only one in which it truly finishes badly. Interestingly enough, this one variable, flexibility of visa travel, would intuitively seem to be the logical extension of ease of entry, in which Singapore tops the char," said PwC.

Here are the top 10 Cities in terms of ease of doing business

**Scores are from 1-27, 27 being the highest