Tier 2 Cities Fare Best In Citizens’ Mental Wellbeing: TRA Research

* Kochi citizens show best mental wellbeing scores, Chennai fares worst

TRA Research, a consumer insights and brand analytics company, released its second Mental Wellbeing whitepaper, on the occasion of World Mental Health Day. The research tracked the Mental Wellbeing of citizens across urban India and was conducted with 1003 respondents across 16 cities between July and September 2021. The study also measured Health Worry, Economy Worry, Family Worry and Financial worry of citizens and their ability to cope with them.

Tier 2 cities display Excellent Mental Wellbeing scores. Kochi shows the highest MWBI 2021 score at +177% (up by 131% over MWBI 2020). Lucknow at +147%, and Chandigarh at +144% MWBI, show very close MWBI scores this year, up nearly 300% from the previous years’ report.  Along with these Indore (+113% MWBI) and Jaipur (+101% MWBI) display Very Good mental wellbeing scores, showing they are close in optimism to the top three.

The worst mental health scores are displayed by Kolkata (+9% MWBI), Ahmedabad (+3% MWBI) and Chennai (-8% MWBI). All three cities are precariously balanced in terms of mental health, but Chennai’s negative score shows citizens’ inability to cope with the anxieties that they are suffering from.

Speaking on the launch of TRA’s Coronavirus Mental Wellbeing Impact report to mark the occasion of the World Mental Health Day, N. Chandramouli, CEO, TRA Research said, "In last year’s study the highest anxiety of citizens across India was ‘Financial Worry’ at 60%, which has lessened to 47% in MWBI 2021. ‘Family Worry’ stayed constant which is down by only 1% to 53% this year, and ‘Health Worry’ at 49% MWBI and ‘Economy Worry’ at 36% hover around the same number as last year, both down by 1% from last year.”

"Not enough attention has been given by the authorities or corporates on mental health due to the pandemic. The impact on mental health is a long tail problem and can impede the ability to maintain trust in relationships with individuals, corporates and governance alike", Chandramouli elaborated.

“The research also asked respondents which activities they were most likely to undertake in the near future and the answers came with no surprises. The most likely activity was a Friends/Family get together with 38% answering in affirmative. Though many more places were opening up, a holiday or even visiting a place of worship was only an activity was stated as ‘Likely/Very Likely’ only by 28% of the respondents. Travel for leisure got the nod from 25%, and Shopping in a Mall was high on the list of 21% of the respondents. Movie Theatres will probably continue to face pressure from a lack of viewers as only 8% considered it as a ‘Likely/Very Likely’ activity in the near future”, he added.

About TRA Research

TRA Research, a Comniscient Group company, is a consumer insights and brand intelligence Company dedicated to understanding and analyzing stakeholder behavior through two globally acclaimed proprietary matrices of Brand Trust and Brand Desire. TRA Research conducts primary research with consumers and stakeholders to assist brands with their business decisions based on Consumer Behaviour insights.

TRA Research is consulting brands on transitioning during and after the Covid-19 crisis, to help them be more aligned to consumer and client expectations. TRA Research is the also the publisher of TRA’s Brand Trust Report and of TRA’s Most Desired Brands.