Residents of the Chechen capital of Grozny, which has undergone massive redevelopment after being demolished in multiple wars, have been rated the happiest in Russia with the condition of their city.
Grozny beat out the Siberian city of Tyumen and Tatarstan capital Kazan for the top spot on the list, based on the results of surveys conducted in 100 of the largest cities in Russia by pollster NewsEffector and research fund Russian Regions.
The poll was titled "Happiness Index of Russian Cities" and included surveys with 26,900 people, according to results posted on NewsEffector's website. It did not cite the margin of error in the poll.
The survey asked residents six questions, including whether they were satisfied with their personal finances and with their city's environmental condition, rate of development and infrastructure. The survey also asked whether residents felt safe and happy in their city.
A relatively small percentage of polled Grozny residents said they were satisfied with their finances (23 percent), but 68 percent said they were satisfied with the city's environmental condition, 73 percent were satisfied with the city's rate of development, and 80 percent said they were happy in their city.
Fifty-one percent of Grozny residents said they were satisfied with the level of safety in the once war-torn city.
Once common, suicide bombings and other attacks, almost always blamed on Islamic militants, have become less frequent in the Chechen capital. The last attack was on Aug. 6, a suicide bombing outside a department store that killed three Interior Ministry troops and wounded three others. Before that, the last major attack in the city was a triple suicide bombing on Aug. 30, 2011, that killed nine people.
Behind Grozny in the top 10 on the list were Tyumen (2), Kazan (3), Surgut (4), Krasnodar (5), Sochi (6), Nizhnevartovsk (7), Novorossiisk (8), Belgorod (9), and Yaroslavl (10).
Moscow was ranked 52nd on the list. Sixty-seven percent of surveyed Moscow residents said they were happy with their finances, while 13 percent were satisfied with the capital's environment, 23 percent with its rate of development, and 32 percent with its level of safety. Sixty-two percent said they were happy in the city.
At the bottom of the list were Bratsk (98) in the Irkutsk region, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (99) in the Far East, and Chita (100) in Ivanovo region.
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