Depending on who you ask, the UK is either one of the happiest or most miserable countries in the world. What can we say? We’re a varied bunch.
Perhaps one of the reasons no one can seem to figure out if we’re the most upbeat or saddest nation is because it differs so greatly between cities. Britain may be small geographically, but travelling even just an hour away from any given point will land you in a place with a different accent, outlook on life, and savoury snack of choice.
The aptly named Institute for Quality of Life (IQL) keeps track of how happy the people of different cities are. The institute measures the quality of five different aspects of city life, including citizens, governance, environment, economy and mobility. These are, according to the IQL, ‘the most important areas defining urban activities.’
Once each city has been ranked in each area, their scores are added up for a final overall number ranking. Each year, a threshold is then decided and any city whose total is higher than that number is awarded a gold, which basically means it’s a cheerful place to be.
This year, three UK cities were given gold status. The highest of these was Bristol, which came seventh overall.
The south-western hub scored best in the economic and governance categories, which measure GDP and productivity, and quality of local leadership respectively. Its worst category was mobility and transport, which won’t come as a surprise to anyone who’s ever tried to get from Temple Meads train station to literally anywhere else in the city.
Edinburgh also got the gold, coming in 15th overall. The Scottish capital was a good all-rounder, with great scores in all five categories, but it's best score was in governance. Given that the Scottish parliament meets inside its borders, it makes sense that leadership is what it does best.
Finally, London just about made the cut in 33rd place, only four spaces above the lowest golden entry. Despite its rising costs, the capital was another success across the board. Its highest score was surprisingly not in the economic department, but actually in the ‘citizens’ group, which is based on the quality of social facilities like education, libraries, and community centres.
The happiest city in the world is Aarhus in Denmark, closely followed by Zurich in Switzerland. As always the mainland Europeans are outdoing us in the life-satisfaction department. Maybe we all just need to embrace our inner hygge.
If you’re interested in the entire list, including more details on the IQL’s methodology, you can have a look at the official website here. Until then, unless you live in Bristol, Edinburgh, or London, we can only recommend you curl up with a blanket with some sort of pastry and try to live as the Danish do.
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