Wellington has ranked as the fourth least stressful city in the world in front of Auckland which ranked 14th. Photo / 123rf
Wellington has ranked as the fourth least stressful city in the world in front of Auckland which ranked 14th. Photo / 123rf
Wellington has ranked as the fourth least stressful city in the world on a new index and Auckland has come in not far behind it at 14.
The Least and Most Stressful Cities Index 2021 report from wellness organisation Vaay ranked 100 cities on 15 common stressors like traffic congestion, equality and financial stress.
Both Auckland and Wellington had a perfect score on socio-political stability while mental health, traffic congestion and weather received moderate scores of 51.1, 61.8, and 59.6 respectively.
The Herald spoke with Wellington city councillors who agreed the capital is a low stress city.
Lambton Ward city councillor Nicola Young moved back to Wellington 25 years ago and said it was the best decision she ever made.
Wellington wind surfers making the most of the southerly at Lyall Bay. Photo / File
"I used to live in London and I found that quite stressful with two teenage kids trying to get around and do the grocery shopping. I think Wellington is a wonderful city to live in.
"I was amused by the weather score, and the air pollution one was hilarious because we don't have much air pollution because we have so much wind.
"I'm amused, bearing in mind the Wellington city council has been under the gun for its reputation of being dysfunctional, that we still got 100 per cent."
The mental health score was a concern for Young who said she didn't think mental health crisis was being handled well.
Overall, Young agreed with the findings of the report.
Eastern Ward city councillor Sean Rush said he had lived in a number of cities and what the index missed was a metric around community.
"A fabulous city like San Francisco can be bloody lonely if you don't know the right people."
Rush was surprised that Wellington didn't score higher on Covid response, traffic congestion and weather.
"Let's not forget that a significant people come in on the train. Congestion doesn't need to cause stress. It's only stressful if it's unexpected. If you're anything like me you put on some Led Zeppelin and it's all good," he said.
"I do struggle to see how we scored so well on socio-political stability but maybe it's because we work so well together."
Sky Stadium in Wellington. Photo / Supplied
The first-place holder of the index was Reykjavík, Iceland, which scored highly in most areas.
Reykjavík had the lowest weather rating among the top 50 countries on the Index.
Rush has travelled to Reykjavík and said it had a vibrant nightlife but the weather was brutal and it was dark in the winter months.
Onslow-Western Ward city councillor Diane Calvert has lived in Wellington for 27 years and believed Wellington scored so high because it is a welcoming city.
"People aren't fixed up where did you come from or what school did you go to. It's that social contact. I think that helps a lot," Calvert said.
"You know what you're getting with Wellington, and you adapt accordingly. You don't have balmy blue skies every day and 25-degree weather but you have the wind here that blows away pollution so that's a benefit."
When asked on the low score of traffic congestion Calvert said to get from one end of the city to the other you have to go through the CBD.
"Until we can solve that issue, there's no one silver bullet, we're not going to rank as high."
Calvert was optimistic that the Get Wellington Moving programme would help to ease congestion.
