An aerial view of beautiful Zhuhai. [Photo/WeChat account: zhxiangzhou]

Zhuhai was recently recognized as the 10th happiest city in China in 2023 by the esteemed research team led by Economist Ren Zeping, with an overall index of 80.17.

As one of the top 10 cities on the list, Zhuhai received special attention from Ren's team, which analyzed the city's happiness index from three specific aspects: economic environment, social environment, and ecological environment. Zhuhai ranked sixth, ninth, and first in these three categories, respectively.

The team mentioned that Zhuhai is one of the central cities in the Pearl River Delta urban cluster. Despite its relatively small economic size, the city has a high per capita income and a small urban-rural income gap.

In 2022, Zhuhai's regional GDP reached 404.55 billion yuan ($55.33 billion), ranking sixth in Guangdong province. However, its per capita GDP and per capita disposable income levels were relatively high, ranking ninth and 16th in the country with values of 163,000 yuan and 63,000 yuan, respectively. The city's income gap between urban and rural areas is small, with a ratio of 1:8.

Known as the "City of A Hundred Islands," Zhuhai has the largest marine area, the most islands, and the longest coastline in the Pearl River Delta. It boasts a pleasant climate and ranks high in the country in terms of ecological environment quality.

In recent years, Zhuhai has actively promoted the construction of high-quality greenways and parks. By the end of 2022, a total of 220.4 kilometers of greenways had been built, with an average urban green space of 22.3 square meters per person, enhancing the happiness level of residents.

Ren's team constructed a comprehensive evaluation system and look at over 337 prefectural-level cities nationwide. This year, Nanjing of Jiangsu province occupied the first place in the list, followed closely by Hangzhou in Zhejiang province and Changsha in Hunan province.