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*Bulawayo, Zimbabwe - It is in one of the most depressed and unsatisfied nation on Earth. Gallup indicates that 91% of Zimbabweans were dissatisfied with their standard of living last year and they're not very optimistic things will get better.
*Gomel/Homyel, Belarus - In one of the most depressed and suicidal nations on Earth. A nation that's also something of a dictatorship. Along with those charming qualities parts of the city are apparently radioactive due to Chernobyl, in neighboring Ukraine, yet the people weren't evacuated.
*Tiraspol, Moldova (or Tiraspol, Transistria) - A city in what is reportedly one of the most depressed nations on Earth. It has also suffered from ethnic conflict by the sounds of it.
Bulawayo,now there is a good example one would think.Reason i say this is this city came from being a prosperous place in the old Rhodesia and early years when nation became Zimbabwe to it's present broken down state today.Hence a lot of folk have a living memory of how things were to where it has gone today.Also with the short to medium term prospect of the situation not improving and indeed even getting worse must be a hard prospect to stomach for those that reside there.
I dont know if the people of Pyongyang would be sad or not? They have no idea about how the rest of the world operates, therfore absoultley no idea about what they are missing out on. How can one be sad about missing something they dont even know exists?
So unless they are starving or being held as political prisioners (and lets face it their is loads of places in the world where that happens) why would the people in pyongyang be sad?
As for sad places I am going to have to stick with London, the number of times I heard a brit say something like, why on earth would you leave Australia to live in a place like this, was very suprising. My fellow Aussies need a few lessons in being thankfull for what the have as well however.
Living in Australia find Aussies in general already consider they live in the best country in the world,regardless of what that may be based on.Having lived in London for a very long time what should be pointed out to others is, yes Londoners often rubbish the place, but actually many of those that do feel a deep attachment and a lot of the putdowns is the English style, where as Aussies like to exagerate the counties positives, Londoners tend to exagerate it's negatives. Besides most Brits would be finding a little too costly these days and in so many ways poor value for money.
In the developed world, Sydney, Singapore or Hong Kong.
Would agree, Sydney now having one of the most overpriced/inflated real estate markets in the world...unless amoung those of the property owning class who purchased a decade ago and watched your investment go up to dizzy highs that to us makes the USA housing market look so cheap,in a country with some of the highest interest rates in the developed world,where so many folk work some of the longest hours,possibly to service their debt,in a city that badly needs infrastructure improvements,especially in public transport.
Singapore,so many of their folk,especially the educated young have the desire to leave that authoritarian island and Australia is often cited as a place of preference.
Both Singapore and Hong Kong perhaps have an over reliance on business and the making of money. Could this have something to do with the attitudes of those populations ,i wonder?
Last edited by the troubadour; 08-30-2010 at 11:05 PM..
Reason: correction
I seriously wouldn't put any US city on my list of world's saddest cities...there are places overseas that make the worst ghettos in the US look like Beverly Hills...
I find the the "poor-sad" link to be a highly overstated one.
So the US can't possibly have any sad place because no such place is as poor as some of the poorest regions of the world. I mean, how superficial can one get?
Here's what looks sad to me: the relatively affluent masses in American 'burbs that have all but given up on life, despite "having it all" on paper. Punch the clock 8-5+, then stay glued to the TV screen until late at night, sometimes go out to eat with family during which less than 20 words total are exchanged, then start all over.
There are few things I find so sad as that morbid feel of the typical American suburb. Street children in 3rd world countries don't strike me as sad.
I wonder how much impact the fact that a place is wealthy or not in reality tilts the scales to if the folk living there are happy or sad?
I would consider other things equally and even more important such as community and connection within that community in the sense of knowing one is part of what is going on around one.
Living in a wealthy city,for example in a large house in the suburbs and having minimal contact with neighbours(if any)or with ones environs,strikes me as a rather sad place to be.
The Happy Planet Index also gives Greece, Japan, and South Korea relatively low marks on life satisfaction. Although Taiwan is not listed by them.
Life Satisfaction | Global HPI | Explore | Happy Planet Index (http://www.happyplanetindex.org/explore/global/life-sat.html - broken link)
So possibly Daegu in Korea, Iwamizawa in Hokkaido, Ajaccio in Corsica, and Athens, Greece would be unhappiest in the developed world. Greece has kind of been unhappy of late due to an economic meltdown.
I find the the "poor-sad" link to be a highly overstated one.
So the US can't possibly have any sad place because no such place is as poor as some of the poorest regions of the world. I mean, how superficial can one get?
Here's what looks sad to me: the relatively affluent masses in American 'burbs that have all but given up on life, despite "having it all" on paper. Punch the clock 8-5+, then stay glued to the TV screen until late at night, sometimes go out to eat with family during which less than 20 words total are exchanged, then start all over.
There are few things I find so sad as that morbid feel of the typical American suburb. Street children in 3rd world countries don't strike me as sad.
Great post. I think happy/sad has alot to do with hope or loss. Many so called awful slums in Brazil, Kenya, India, Venezuela, etc. are quite vibrant because the people have come from the country excited about creating a better future for themselves or their children.
Contrast that with folks in the US or UK who have seen much better days. Now they feel diminished, isolated and nostalgic.
Nah, Yermo actually is basically an extension of Barstow now which is a major transportation center between Las Vegas and Los Angeles and much of it seems new.
I haven't been to these places and I know at least the last two have changed but cities I've considered depressing are Grozny, Checnya, Moscow, Russia, Belfast, Northern Ireland and Belgrade, Serbia. Beirut actually just seems more violent than depressing. Something about Northern Ireland....the grim weather mixed with the grim landscape and the violence and tension. I know there was a peace process but images can be hard to change.
Moscow is better with capitalism but there is still a lot of poverty, living conditions are bad there compared to the West and the dreary weather and I think the architecture of a lot of Moscow, especially what was build during the Soviet era, adds to the depressing feel.
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