City is the top place for a troubled life

Published on 05/11/2004 01:05

GLASGOW is the most stressful British city in which to live, according to a survey of smoking rates, sex lives, health figures, jobs data and suicide rates.

London is ranked fourth and Edinburgh ninth in the Men’s Health poll, which also included factors such as average commuting times, city-centre congestion and pollution levels.

Glasgow has among the highest rates of suicide in the UK per head of population and more smokers than anywhere else. More than 20 per cent of Glaswegians described their sex lives as "unsatisfying" in a separate survey.

Other cities included Hull (2nd) and Newcastle (3rd). Leeds emerged as the least stressful place in Britain.

The magazine said: "Glaswegian smiles are distinctly thin on the ground, where men are some 60 per cent more likely to take their own lives than those south of the Border."

A spokeswoman for Glasgow City Council said that although they are stressed, locals claim the city is a good place to live.