The world's least (and most) stressful cities to live in

Looking for a city break (or a new home) that's going to leave you relaxed rather than strung out? You might want to head to Germany.

Stuttgart has been named the least stressful city to live in a survey by Zipjet.

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According to the Metro, the study looked at factors that could have a negative impact on mental health, like unemployment, debt per capita, traffic, public transport, perceived security, pollution and the amount of sunshine. They compared this with things that can have a positive effect, like gender and race equality and green spaces.

Germany fared very well, with Hannover, Munich and Hamburg also popping up in the top 10 least stressful cities. The Scots will be pleased to know that Edinburgh was also listed, coming in at seventh place.

At the other end of the scale, the world's most stressful city to live in was named as Baghdad in Iraq. This was followed by Kabul in Afghanistan and Lagos in Nigeria in second and third place respectively.

On its website, Managing Director of Zipjet, Florian Färber: "We undertook this study to find out how the most stressful cities around the world can benefit from the example of those cities least affected by stress.

"Individuals feel stressed for different reasons, requiring our study to look at data from a macro level to determine the comprehensive well-being of a city's population.

"We examined the overall mental health of a city, and then considered all of the major stress-inducing factors, including unemployment, debt per capita, traffic, public transport, security, pollution and density. We 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."

See more at zipjet.co.uk