Overview
- CanDoc published the Stressindex comparing 30 German cities using data through September 2026 and ranked Augsburg as the least stressful and Düsseldorf as the most stressful city in the set.
- The index scores cities on ten factors grouped into four weighted categories: wellness/health/prevention 40 percent, work 25 percent, environmental stress 20 percent, and green space 15 percent, with results normalized to a 1–100 scale.
- Augsburg’s advantages include about 41.3 percent green-space cover, 72 percent of residents within 300 meters of green areas, 14 relaxation courses per 100,000 people and roughly 66 general practitioners per 100,000, while Düsseldorf scored poorly on nighttime road noise, green access and long annual working hours.
- The analysis highlights large intercity gaps in measurable stress drivers such as a 135-hour spread in average annual working time and Kiel’s low PM2.5 level of 6.0 µg/m³, and it is presented as a place-based assessment rather than a direct measure of individual stress.
- The index is tied to broader public-health concerns after a separate Techniker Krankenkasse report found about two-thirds of Germans feel frequently or sometimes stressed, and the findings point to urban planning and prevention levers—like more green space, noise control and local preventive services—that could reduce everyday stress.