Hamburgers consider themselves the happiest city dwellers. As can be seen from the so-called SKL happiness atlas, which was available to the AFP news agency on Wednesday, the Hanseatic League leads the ranking list among a total of twelve major cities in terms of life satisfaction with 7.16 points.
Frankfurt am Main follows with 7.07 points and Munich with 6.90 points. At the bottom of the list of life satisfaction were Bremen with 6.50 points, Dresden with 6.49 points and Leipzig with 6.44 points.
How happy citizens are is therefore most strongly influenced by satisfaction with income and the assessment of the city as a business location. The gross domestic product per capita in Hamburg is 64,000 euros, but in Leipzig at the bottom it is only 38,000 euros.
On behalf of the Süddeutsche Klassenlotterie, a total of 3001 people between the ages of 16 and 74 were surveyed in Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf, Leipzig, Dresden, Hanover, Bremen and Essen from March 30th to April 24th. Respondents could give between zero and ten points. The higher the score, the higher the satisfaction.
The people in Hamburg, Frankfurt and Munich stand out with above-average personal happiness values and a high level of satisfaction, for example with the business location or the public administration.
Berlin came in fourth, somewhat "surprisingly" for the interviewers themselves, with 6.88 points on the satisfaction scale. The Berliners are therefore very satisfied with their lives, their income and working life, but not with what the city has to offer, especially the administration.
Hanover with 6.75 points, Düsseldorf with 6.69 points, Cologne with 6.65 points and Essen with 6.63 points are in the middle. Stuttgart surprised with a rather weak ninth place with 6.54 points - here the high dissatisfaction with the feeling of togetherness stands out.
The last two places, Dresden and Leipzig, combine a slightly older population and comparatively weak economic figures. In contrast to Berlin, people in Dresden tend to be dissatisfied with their personal lives, but enthusiastic about their city.
