Ningbo named as one of China's happiest cities for 9th time

Ningbo in Zhejiang province was selected as one of the ten happiest cities in China in 2018 by Oriental Outlook magazine's annual ranking, which was released on Nov 26. 

One of China's most influential measurements of a city's overall development and its residents' quality of life, Oriental Outlook's rankings were released this month for the 12th consecutive year. More than one billion people have submitted completed questionnaires over the past 12 years.

The poll surveys a city based on 16 established standards involving education, employment, medical care, public services and the environment. Ten prefecture-level cities and ten county-level cities stood out of 197 cities this year as cities of having the best well-being in the county.

It is the ninth time that the city has entered the list, and its county-level cities Yuyao and Cixi were also honored as one of the ten happiest county-level cities. 

Ningbo is the second largest city in Zhejiang. It ranks second and first among China's 15 sub-provincial cities in per-capita income of urban and rural residents, respectively. It is also the fourth top sub-provincial city in China that has invested over 10 billion US dollars overseas. 

The Ningbo-Zhoushan Port has ranked first in the world in cargo throughput for nine consecutive years and hit one billion metric tons of cargo throughput last year, the first in the world to achieve such a feat. 

In recent years, the city has been devoted to the improvement of its environment, social insurance system, medical care, education and road network. Ningbo is now a pilot area for the construction of ecological civilization, low-carbon, and garden cities.