German cities least stressed, here’s where Delhi and Mumbai stand

Can’t seem to shake that stress off? No wonder – New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bengaluru are among the most harried cities in the world, according to a new study that reveals the world’s most and least stressful cities of 2017.

Stuttgart is the least stressed out city across the globe, the 2017 Global Least and Most Stressful Cities Ranking says, with four of the top 10 relaxing cities situated in Germany.

Of the 150 cities ranked, Hanover is in third place, Munich in fifth place and Hamburg in joint ninth place with Graz, Austria.

Delhi is ranked 142, while Bengaluru stands at 130, Kolkata at 131 and Mumbai at 138.

Zipjet, a UK-based laundry services start-up, said it examined the overall mental health of cities, and then considered all of the major stress-inducing factors, including unemployment, debt per capita, traffic, public transport, security, pollution and density. The start-up also considered elements such as lack of sunshine hours, which has been linked to poor mental health.

“Mental health problems are on the rise worldwide, with stress being a trigger and contributing factor towards this increase. 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,” said managing director of Zipjet, Florian Färber.

Luxembourg, which has fewer than 600,000 nationals, stands at the second spot in the ranking. The most stressed city in the list is Baghdad. Zipjet studied 500 cities across the world and ranked 150 cities that had readings on all 17 of its indicators.

On top of the table, Stuttgart scores highly in terms of green spaces within the city.

Cities in the order of how stressed they are:

1. Stuttgart, Germany

2. Luxembourg City, Luxembourg

3. Hanover, Germany

4. Bern, Switzerland

5. Munich, Germany

6. Bordeaux, France

7. Edinburgh, UK

8. Sydney, Australia

9. (tie) Graz, Austria and Hamburg,

130. Bangalore, India

131. Kolkata, India

138. Mumbai, India

142. New Delhi, India