Conducted between September 2021 and February 2022, respondents were asked to rate their happiness on a scale of one to five.
Adam Warżawa/PAP
A new report has found Gdynia to be the ‘happiest’ Polish city to live in and Częstochowa the ‘unhappiest’.
Issued by Otodom and ThinkCo, the survey of 35,987 people showed people living in Gdynia were happiest.Jerzy Ochoński/PAP
Issued by Otodom and ThinkCo, the survey of 35,987 people showed Gdynia was followed by Gdańsk, Zielona Góra, Tychy, Bielsko-Biała, Szczecin, Rzeszów, Katowice, Poznań and Kraków.
Gdańsk was the second happiest city in Poland, according to the survey.Jerzy Ochoński/PAP
Conducted between September 2021 and February 2022, respondents were asked to rate their happiness on a scale of one to five with the study aiming to better understand what specific factors impacted the resulting score.
Częstochowa was found to be the unhappiest place in Poland.Waldemar Deska/PAP
In total, well over half (57 percent) expressed satisfaction with their city of residence with 29 percent of respondents claiming that the most influential factor being their access to stores.
Proximity to greenery was mentioned by 21.7 percent of participants, entertainment options by 21.1percent, transport links by 23.9 percent, and safety by 21.7percent.
Increasingly, public transport has become a key issue with respondents in bigger cities claiming it had a considerable impact on their quality of life.Albert Zawada/PAP
On the other hand, 23.9 percent expressed dissatisfaction with their immediate environment for reasons associated with air quality, lack of greenery and noise levels.
Limited healthcare was cited as another reason to be unhappy by 22.2 percent, whilst a similar number complained about their transport situation. However, the biggest source of unhappiness – cited by 36 percent of respondents – was the local cost of living.
Proximity to greenery was mentioned by 21.7 percent of participants, entertainment options by 21.1percent, transport links by 23.9 percent, and safety by 21.7percent.Kalbar/TFN
Taking several months to analyse, the results have shown that happiness tended to rise in parallel with a city’s size, before dipping after reaching a certain threshold. For this reason, towns with populations of under 50,000 (e.g. Wejherowo, Puławy, Tarnobrzeg and Kołobrzeg) and between 50,000 to 100,000 (e.g. Kalisz, Słupsk, Jelenia Góra) scored just 3.39 and 3.37 respectively in the happiness stakes.
Towns with a population between 100,000 and 200,000 scored more favourably, whilst cities of between 200,000 and 500,000 recorded the best results.
Environmental concerns have also grown with Otodom drawing a direct link between happiness and the state of a person’s immediate environment.Radek Pietruszka/PAP
According to Otodom, Poland’s major urban centres, meanwhile, found their high scores impacted by concerns directly linked to their larger size: “Happiness levels grow with the size of the city, but only to a certain level,” reads the report, “hence the high ranking of Gdynia, Zielona Góra and Tychy. Bigger cities fared slightly worse due to their high costs and environmental issues.”
Increasingly, public transport has become a key issue with respondents in bigger cities claiming it had a considerable impact on their quality of life. Likewise, environmental concerns have also grown with Otodom drawing a direct link between happiness and the state of a person’s immediate environment.
Notably, happiness varied dramatically with age with the report indicating that the happiest group in Poland being those aged between 61 and 70 years of age.Kalbar/TFN
“There is one conclusion we can draw from this,” states the report. “Cities should take care of their green recreational areas and seek to reduce noise, because the ecological awareness of Poles is increasing.”
Notably, happiness varied dramatically with age with the report indicating that the happiest group in Poland being those aged between 61 and 70 years of age. Those aged between 18 and 24 were the unhappiest, something born from soaring prices and the resulting lack of stability felt by this age group.
In total, well over half (57 percent) expressed satisfaction with their city of residence with 29 percent of respondents claiming that the most influential factor being their access to stores.Kalbar/TFN
In terms of specific locations, Częstochowa was followed by Kalisz, Ruda Śląska, Nowy Sącz, Kielce, Koszalin, Sosnowiec, Chełm, Gorzów Wielkopolski and Tarnów as Poland’s unhappiest place to live.
To read more about what makes Gdynia cool click HERE.