The atmosphere of a city is often transmitted to the visitors and tourists and in a way, it can form the atmosphere of the entire trip itself. One needs to be sure about the chosen destination because it can have a vital impact on the overall experience.
In this context, Vaay com analyzed stress indicators for hundreds of cities in the world, creating a ranking of the most relaxed and stressful cities in the world.
Structural environmental factors that occur frequently and that can contribute to the overall stress of the residents were used as the basis for the assessment. The result of the analysis is an index with a hundred large cities worldwide and 15 factors, which are ranked from stressful to least stressful.
Factors Involved
At the beginning of the study, it was examined which macro factors (security, gender and minority equality, social and political stability, environmental pollution, health, income etc.) actually contribute to stress.
These factors were then grouped into four categories and the stress indicators for 500 cities in the world were examined. Cities for which no reliable data was available were removed from the list, resulting in a total sample of 100 cities.
Thus said, the selected cities are not necessarily the least or the most stressful cities, rather these cities were chosen because of their global comparability.
European Cities on Top
Reykjavik performed extremely well. In terms of gender equality, air pollution and noise pollution, Iceland’s capital even scored 100 out of a possible 100 points.
The latter is mainly due to the comparatively lower population density. But the city also scored very well in terms of security, political and social stability as well as access to health care.
In second and third place in the ranking of the most relaxed cities in the world are Bern (Switzerland) and Helsinki (Finland). These two were followed by New Zealand’s Wellington and Australia’s Melbourne, performing especially well in terms of air pollution and access to healthcare.
The second half of the ranking includes the likes of Oslo, Copenhagen, Innsbruck, Hannover and Graz, showing a clear trend of the relaxed nature of European cities especially in the north and the west.
Top Ten Most Relaxed Cities in the World:
- Reykjavík, Iceland
- Bern, Switzerland
- Helsinki, Finland
- Wellington, New Zealand
- Melbourne, Australia
- Oslo, Norway
- Copenhagen, Denmark
- Innsbruck, Austria
- Hanover, Germany
- Graz, Austria
Mumbai Most Stressful, Moscow Also in Top 10
On the opposite end of the ranking, there is Mumbai, which had a total score of 1.0, mainly registering a poor score in terms of weather and in terms of social security.
The Indian city is followed by Nigeria’s Lagos, mainly losing in terms of noise pollution, while Manilla’s (in 3rd place) biggest problem is traffic congestion. These three are followed by New Delhi, Baghdad and Kabul.
The first European city on the list is Moscow in 6th place with traffic and unemployment rate being the biggest issues. Karachi, Jakarta and Kiev follow, while Turkey’s Istanbul closes the top 10 of the most stressful cities.
Top Ten Most Stressful Cities in the World:
- Mumbai, India
- Lagos, Nigeria
- Manila, Philippines
- New Delhi, India
- Baghdad, Iraq
- Kabul, Afghanistan
- Moscow, Russia
- Karachi, Pakistan
- Jakarta, Indonesia
- Kiev, Ukraine