Affluent city dwellers among nation's least happy, report shows

People from southeastern China are the most satisfied with their lives, while urban dwellers with high salaries have the lowest happiness levels, a recent report has found.

The report, published by a team from Tsinghua University, ranks the happiness of people living in China's major cities using a happiness index, calculated by analyzing posts on social media, including Weibo, last year.

Positive words in the posts add to the index, while negative ones reduce it, according to Beijing News.

All the first-tier cities — Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen — fail to make the top 100. Beijing is in 273rd place, near the bottom, while Luzhou, an inland city in Sichuan province, tops the list.

Richer people are not necessarily happier, the report concludes.

In regions with a per capita GDP lower than 45,000 yuan ($6,900), people are happier as the economy develops. Once per capita GDP passes 45,000 yuan, people become less satisfied with their lives, it said.