San José is the least stressful city to live in throughout Latin America, according to 2017 stressful cities ranking by Zipjet, which took into account variables such as air pollution, acoustics, mental health, social security and population density to come to that conclusion.
The study was to find out how the most stressful cities around the world can benefit from the example of those cities least affected by stress.
The ranking, which includes 150 urban centers on five continents, places several European cities, particularly German cities, such as Stuttgart (in first place), as urban centers less stressful to live.
In the American continent, Seattle, U.S. is ranked the least stressful city, 12th, followed by the Canadian cities of Montreal (24), Vancouver (28) and Toronto (34). Caracas, Venezuela is the most stressful, ranked 139th.
San Jose is ranked 46, above cities, like London (70), Tokyo (72), Paris (78), New York (84), or Rome (89).
San Jose’s overall score is 3.63 on a scale of 1 to 10, with the lower the number, the less stressful.
“The new projects promoted by the city, such as turning the city into a pole of technological development, tram and recovery of urban areas, would cause San Jose to rise to such rankings in the coming years,” said Johnny Araya, mayor of San Jose.
In the Latin America ranking, following San Jose are: Montivideo, Uruguay (49); Santiago, Chile (76); Panama City, Panama (77); Asunción, Paraguay (90); Quito, Ecuador (115); Buenos Aires, Argentina (116); Bogota, Colombia (117); Lima, Peru (118); Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (120); Medellin, Colombia (123); Mexico City, Mexico (125); Guatemala City (127); El Salvador, (128); São Paulo, Brazil (136); and Caracas, Venezuela (139).
Tegucigalpa (Honduras) and Managua (Nicaragua) were not included in the ranking.
Zipjet says “anxiety and stress” have been pinpointed again and again as key factors contributing to the deterioration of mental health and quality of life.
“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.” stated Managing Director of Zipjet, Florian Färber. “We’re happy to be a part of the wave of digitalization working to reduce stress all around the world.”
