What makes urban life so stressful?

A clogged street in Saigon - Photo by VnExpress

The ranking by Zipjet, a London-based online laundry service, seeks to provide insight on how the most stressful cities around the world can benefit from the example of those less affected by stress.

Although many large cities such as New York (84), Barcelona (85) and Seoul (129) fall into the second half of the list, the ranking shows that there is much less stress in developed cities and more in those cursed with daily hunger and violence.

European cities dominate the list, with Sydney the only outsider breaking into the top 10. Stuttgart topped the ranking, followed by Luxembourg, Hanover, Bern, Munich, Bordeaux, Edinburgh, Sydney, Hamburg and Graz. Seattle (12) is the only American city in top 20.

The ranking’s bottom three are the conflicts-torn Lagos, Kabul and Baghdad, where people struggle with regular attacks and race conflicts.

“Mental health problems are on the rise worldwide, with stress being a trigger and contributing factor towards this increase," Florian Färber, Zipjet's managing director, said in an online statement. "We hope that by pinpointing how the least stressful cities are managing this issue, those cities struggling with a stressed out population can overcome it.”

Factors measured include unemployment, debt per capita, traffic, public transport, security, pollution, physical and mental health, social security, as well as gender and race equality. The study also measures sunshine hours, fewer of which have been associated to higher risk of mental health.

Hanoi and Saigon, Vietnam’s largest cities, have been ranked 94 and 106 respectively