Hsinchu City surpassed Taipei to take first place in an annual competitiveness ranking of Taiwan’s cities and counties, marking the first time that the capital has lost the top spot, the Chinese-language Global Views magazine reported yesterday.
Taipei had been ranked the nation’s most competitive city since the magazine began compiling the rankings in 2003, and it still scored highest in four out of the nine indicators this year, the magazine said.
Taipei had the top score in “economy and employment,” “education and culture,” “healthcare” and “local government finances,” it said.
The capital also ranked among the top five in three other indicators: “environmental protection and quality of the environment” (4th), “quality of life and modernization” (3rd) and “social welfare” (4th).
However, Taipei’s low rankings in “crime rates and policing” (10th) and “traffic and fire safety” (16th) dragged down its final score, the magazine said.
Hsinchu placed in the top five in eight of the nine indicators — it placed sixth in “quality of life and modernization” — a feat none of the other cities or counties were able to achieve, the results showed.
Trailing Hsinchu and Taipei were New Taipei City, Taichung, Taoyuan and Taitung County.
Of the six special municipalities, Kaohsiung ranked lowest at 16th. At the bottom of the table were Chiayi County (17th), Nantou County (18th) and Miaoli County (19th).
The outlying counties of Penghu, Kinmen and Lienchiang were not included in the annual rankings due to a lack of data, the magazine said.
This year’s rankings were calculated based on data mostly from last year, with some from 2018 and 2017, the magazine said.
Hsinchu Mayor Lin Chih-chien (林智堅) said that it is hard to surpass Taipei, as “all of the resources are centered there.”
Hsinchu was only able to achieve the feat thanks to the hard work of its residents, Lin said.
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