The Institute for Quality of Life, based in London, recently released a report on the “Happy City Index”, with the top 17 cities all located in Europe. Taiwan had 3 cities on the list, with Taipei ranked 46th, Kaohsiung 64th, and Taoyuan 88th.
Researchers from the Institute for Quality of Life analyzed various indicators directly related to residents’ quality of life and happiness to compile the Happy City Index report. A total of 250 cities were included in the ranking, with 10 cities from the United States making it to the list of the world’s happiest cities.
The researchers scored cities in five major areas that have a direct impact on happiness: people, governance, environment, economy, and transportation mobility, including 24 subcategories such as education system and traffic safety. The 250 cities worldwide were divided into three groups: Gold, Silver, and Bronze.
According to the Institute for Quality of Life’s ranking, the 37 Gold cities were not ranked, with Denmark’s Aarhus having the highest score, followed by Zurich in Switzerland and Berlin in Germany. The top 17 cities with the highest total scores are all in Europe, particularly in Denmark, Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, Finland, the UK, Sweden, Austria, and Iceland.
In the United States, only Minneapolis in Minnesota made it to the Gold group. Minneapolis scored high in the economic category, edging out Basel in Switzerland by a small margin.
Among the 10 American cities on the list, cities in the Silver group include Boston, Baltimore, and Washington D.C., while cities in the Bronze group include San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Madison, Pittsburgh, Rochester, and Portland.
In Asia, Gold cities include Osaka in Japan, Singapore, and Seoul in South Korea, while the 3 Taiwanese cities on the list, Tokyo in Japan, and Busan in South Korea are part of the Silver group ranking from 38th to 100th.
In the Bronze group ranking from 101st to 250th, cities include Kyoto in Japan, Sydney in Australia, Vancouver, and Montreal in Canada, Bangkok and Chiang Mai in Thailand, Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, as well as Nanjing and Wuhan in China.
However, as the researchers pointed out, measuring anyone’s happiness based on numbers alone is difficult.
“In statistics, no woman or man’s happiness can be studied by placing them in different cities around the world. In every place, many other decisive factors will affect a person’s happiness.”
(Source: Central News Agency)