Are New York, London And Tokyo The Real Unhappy Cities?

How’s big city life? On its Meaningful Innovation website, Philips has published some useful data visualizations about how people feel in different cities in different parts of the world.

Comparing world cities like New York, London, Amsterdam, Delhi, Beijing, Tokyo and Jakarta has led to remarkable results. Western cities such as New York, London and Tokyo are considered to be the rich and happy of this world, but from the perspective of the inhabitants of these metropolises it turns out that they are less satisfied with their income, have high stress levels and are living unhealthy lives.

When it comes to worries about personal weight, New York takes the lead, with London and Jakarta in second and third place respectively. In Delhi people are not as concerned with their weight, neither are inhabitants of Abu Dhabi and Tokyo. These figures are comparable to data graphics about heart attack risks and cholesterol levels. In that perspective, each city has it’s a unique yet serious set of problems.

Data on personal stress rates are also very interesting. Stress rates are pretty high in Tokyo, New York, London and Amsterdam, and lower in New Delhi and Abu Dhabi. Comparing this data to the amount of people that are dissatisfied with the costs of living, the same cities end up high in the list. The leading metropolitan centers in the world might be spectacular and hilarious, but they also cause their inhabitants stress as a consequence of work and career pressure. This also comes to the front in data about satisfaction with income. People in London and Tokyo seem to be very unhappy with their income — an interesting finding considering that they earn much more than many people in so-called ‘less privileged’ cities.

A great aspect of the data is that it deals with the real worries, opinions and feelings of people in cities all over the world. Of course, these are not hard figures, but rather interpretations of people about their own lives in big cities. It’s all subjective, but it gives good picture how people actually feel and importantly, highlights that each city seems to have its own set of serious issues. Click here to check it out!