Revealed: Least stressful cities

For a relaxed life, one should head to Germany as four of its cities rank in the top ten.

Work, travel and other pressures getting you down?

Is the stress of day-to-day life making you dream of a long-term vacation, then consider packing up and heading to Stuttgart in Germany, which has been titled as the least stressful city in the world.

The study from Zipjet is based on factors including traffic levels, public transport, percentage of green spaces, financial status of citizens including debt levels, physical and mental health, and the hours of sunlight the city gets per year.

Of the 150 cities ranked, four out of the top ten most stress-free cities are in Germany.

Unfortunately, for Indians, Bengaluru ranks a lowly 130 while the nation’s capital -- Delhi -- is ranked 140 and Mumbai is a tad better at 138.

STUTTGART

Photograph: Alex Domanski/Reuters

Stuttgart’s formula for worry-free living is having a strong local economy -- this is the home of Porsche, Bosch and Mercedes-Benz -- and also having the highest percentage of green spaces within the city limits. The city is spread across a range of hills and valleys, some covered with vineyards.

LUXEMBOURG

Photograph: Victoria Jones/WPA Pool/Getty Images

The tiny yet wealthy country of Luxembourg, home to fewer than 600,000 people, has the second-lowest stress levels. With a ranking of 1.06, the tiny city also has the lowest population density. It also scored the best when it came to mental health. 
So, not too crowded spaces, very happy minds = a stress-free city.

HANOVER

Photograph: Christian Charisius/Reuters

This is the second German city to feature as the most stress-free. The city came in second in terms of noise pollution, only behind the French city of Bordeaux.

BERN

Photograph: Michael Buholzer/Reuters

The Swiss city, also known as the de facto capital of Switzerland, comes in fourth on the list. In 2010, Bern was also ranked among the world’s top ten cities for the best quality of life.

MUNICH

Photograph: Michaela Rehle/Reuters

The German city comes in fifth overall, but when it comes to the Family Purchasing Power category, which balances average household salaries with the cost of living, the city topped followed by Luxembourg, Sydney, Monaco and Stuttgart.

BENGALURU

Photograph: Shailendra Bjojak/PTI Photos

The Garden City features a lowly 130 on the list making it one of more stressful cities to live in. While it ranked well under the unemployment category, the city fared poorly when it came to race equality (9.76). The city also fared quite poorly when it came to the perception of security (7.16) and with the recent murder of journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh outside her home, one would agree that the security in the city is quite lapse.

KOLKATA

Photograph: Ahmad Masood/Reuters

With people teeming over, Kolkata is the third most populated city, according to the study. Only Mumbai and Dhaka fare worse than the eastern city of India. And, of course, with so many people, the city ranks quite high under the traffic category (9.76) making it the fifth worst traffic-hit city.

MUMBAI

Photograph: Danish Siddiqui/Reuters

Even though India’s financial capital is ranked second in the most densely populated category, Mumbai still fares better than its Indian counterparts when it comes to public transport. Well, at least getting from one place to another doesn’t stress Mumbaikars out too much.

DELHI

Photograph: Adnan Abidi/Reuters

The capital of India doesn’t fare well when it comes to social security, mental health and race equality.

BAGHDAD

Photograph: Khalid al-Mousily/Reuters

Baghdad in Iraq is the most stressful city to live in. As far as gender equality goes, the city fares the poorest.

For the full list, click here