Calgary has moved up the Toronto Board of Trade's annual measure of prosperity among world cities, jumping to third place from fifth last year.

The report said the "robust economy'' in Calgary helped attract workers, had the fastest growing population of all the cities on the list, the highest income growth and the second highest GDP growth behind Hong Kong.

Calgary was also noted for "housing affordability and clean air."

Of the four other Canadian cities that made the list, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver didn't fair so well.

Toronto fell four spots to No. 8 and Vancouver dropped to 14th from 12th. Montreal declined to 20th from 15th, however, Halifax rose to 17th from 20th.

Assessing economic performance and livability, the ranking report - done with the Conference Board of Canada - said issues such as low productivity and long commute times hurt both Vancouver and Toronto's rankings in this report, meant to compare the standing of Canada's biggest city with other major centres around the world.

"With decent employment growth, and a good high-tech and professional - employment sector, Toronto's problems stem more from under-investment in productivity-enhancing machinery and equipment,'' the report said.

As well, the average 80 minutes of commute time (round trip) for Toronto was ranked the highest of the 24 cities measured.

Vancouver ranked lower in the economic factors included in the rankings. The city ranked 18th overall economically out of the 24 cities being compared. While Vancouver's labour attractiveness finished higher at 8th, its transportation commute times, infrastructure and ridership was abysmal when compared to the 23 other cities, finishing at 21st (ahead of only Sydney and Halifax).

The top spot overall was Paris, which was praised for its highly educated workforce, good air quality and low homicide rate.