MANILA, Philippines: Manila ranked 121st among 142 smart cities in the world, sliding six places from last year, based on the latest Smart City Index (SCI).

According to the study initiated by the Institute for Management and Development (IMD) World Competitiveness Center's Smart City Observatory, this marked the third consecutive year that the ranking of the Philippine capital in the SCI dropped.

In the study, respondents highlighted three key areas that they were most concerned about: health services, corruption or transparency, unemployment and public transport.

On the other hand, Manila was doing well in areas such as online access to job listings, making it easier to find work, and online purchasing of tickets to shows and museums.

IMD produces a yearly SCI offering a balanced focus on economic and technological aspects of smart cities on the one hand, and "humane dimensions" of smart cities such as quality of life, environment, and inclusiveness, on the other.

The study, which differs from others by being human-centric, combines hard data and survey responses to show the extent to which technology is enabling cities to address the challenges they face to achieve a higher quality of life for their inhabitants.

In this year's SCI, Europe and Asia contain the world's smartest cities with Sydney, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Riyadh on the rise.

Zurich retained the top spot for the fifth consecutive year, with Oslo in second place, Canberra in third, Geneva in fourth and Singapore in fifth.

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