Karachi among 10 most stressful urban centres to breathe in

LAHORE: Analyzing some 15 major stress indicators ranging from governance, environment and finance to safety, unemployment levels, air pollution, density, social security, mental health and access to healthcare etc, a renowned German well-being company “VAAY” had recently commissioned a study that has gone on to identify the most and least stressful living conditions for the inhabitants of 100 global cities. Karachi is at number 93 or among the 10 most stressful urban centres to breathe in, slightly better than Baghdad (94), Kabul (95) and Moscow (96).

The organization conducting this survey claims it has chosen most and least stressful cities for their size and significance, as well as for their availability of reliable and comparable data. Here follows a list of 10 cities with the lowest stress factor from top to bottom:

Reykjavik, Iceland’s coastal capital city offering sweeping nature views of the sea and green hills, tops the list, followed by Bern (Switzerland), Helsinki, (Finland), Wellington, Melbourne, Oslo, Copenhagen, Innsbruck (Austria), Hannover (Germany) and Graz (Austria).

Remember, in March 2021, Iceland was named the second happiest country in the world, falling behind Finland, which had won four consecutive years in a row.

Stress ranks of other major international cities:

Vienna is at 13th position, Amsterdam (15), Zurich (17), Sydney (19), Stockholm (20), Madrid (21), Geneva (23), Frankfurt (24), Houston (25), Manchester (26), Abu Dhabi (28), Toronto (30), Brussels (31), Singapore (33), Tokyo (34), Hamburg (35), Berlin (36), Seoul (37), Edinburgh (38), Seattle (39), Chicago (40), Munich (41), Rome (42), Boston (43), Los Angeles (45), Dublin (46), Washington (47), Buenos Aires (48), Johannesburg (49), Cape Town (51), Prague (52), Budapest (54), Tel Aviv (55), Belgrade (57), Athens (58), Sofia (60), Paris (62), Warsaw (63), San Francisco (64), Doha (65), Kuwait (66), Rio de Janeiro (67), London (69), Taipei (71), Bucharest (72), Hong Kong (74), New York (75), Kuala Lumpur (76), Riyadh (77), Casablanca (79), Nairobi (80), Mexico City (81), Beirut (82), Shanghai (83), Tehran (86), Bangkok (87), Cairo (88), Bogota (89) and Istanbul (90).

Jakarta is at 92nd position and Kiev (Ukraine) occupies 91st slot on this list.

New Delhi rests at 97th position and Mumbai is at rock bottom or 100th position. Manila is ranked at 98th slot.