Relax in the World's Most Stress-Free Cities

Want to retreat to one of the least stressful places on the planet for your next getaway?

Zipjet has just released a study naming the most stress-free cities. Its findings are based on factors such as unemployment rate, debt per capita, traffic, public transport, security, pollution, density and hours without sunshine.

When considering all of those factors, it's Stuttgart, Germany emerging as the best place to live, or visit, depending on your flexibility.

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The capital of Baden-Württemberg is famous for its gorgeous Black Forest. Stuttgart also received top marks for perception of security, family purchase power, green space and gender equality,

“It’s no surprise Stuttgart scored highly for open spaces and these really have a noticeable effect on stress,” resident David Moos said in a statement, according to Lonely Planet. “The ability to feel less enclosed can help you in not feeling stifled, and personally I find this reduces anxiety. I notice this, even more, having also lived in a less green city. The feeling of security in the city, both financial and in the sense of personal safety, is also a great comfort.”

Though landing at the top of the list, the city did not receive top rankings in light and noise pollution.

Additional locations around the globe leading the pack in the study included Luxembourg (i.e. the city in the country of Luxembourg); Hannover, Germany; Bern, Switzerland; Munich, Germany; Bordeaux, France; Edinburgh, United Kingdom; Sydney, Australia; Graz, Austria, and Hamburg, Germany.

For those paying attention, Germany seems to be the clear winner, with four of the most blissfully happy cities in the top 10.

The first American city to show up on the ranking is Seattle, Washington, coming in at number 12. It was the only U.S. metro area to make the top 20. (Boston, Massachusetts is the next highest ranked at number 36, followed by San Francisco, California at 40.)

READ MORE: How to Ensure a Stress-Free Vacation

Zipjet, a company that develops technology designed to reduce stress in people's lives, reports anxiety and stress as key factors contributing to the deterioration of mental health and quality of life.

The study is designed to allow the most stressful cities around the world to benefit by learning from the example of those cities that scored positively in the study.

“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,” said Florian Färber, managing director of ZipJet in a statement.

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