To create its index, researchers analyzed more than 500 cities according to broad categories such as governance, structural and environmental factors, financial elements and the overall health of residents living within the city limits.
"To begin the study, we considered which macro factors contribute to stress, narrowing them down to four broad categories," the study authors wrote, explaining their methodology. "Next, we assessed over 500 cities from across the globe against a number of stress indicators in these categories, before removing those without reliable data, ending up with a final line-up of 100 cities.
"The selected cities are not necessarily the most and least stressful cities in the world; instead, they were chosen for their global comparability."
With regard to the results, the White City placed nearly smack dab in the middle of the list, earning a score of 71.3 out of a possible 100.
Factors that held it back from being featured higher up on the list were things such as population density, traffic congestion, noise and air pollution as well as the mental health of residents of the city in general. Tel Aviv also scored sub-par with regard to governance factors such as socio-political stability and equality for minorities.
Where it thrived, however, was in categories such as weather, social security, unemployment rates and access to healthcare.
The top three cities on the list were all in Nordic countries: Iceland's Reykjavik, Switzerland's Bern and Finland's Helsinki, with Reykjavik scoring a perfect 100. New Zealand's Wellington and Australia's Melbourne were fourth and fifth, respectively. Five of the top seven were Nordic, including Olso in Norway (6th) and Copenhagen in Denmark (7th).
At the bottom of the list is India's Mumbai, Lagos in Nigeria and Manila in the Philippines. Mumbai earned a score of only one out of a possible 100, far below Lagos (19.9) and Manila (29.4). Close to Manila are New Delhi and Baghdad with 31.5 and 31.7 respectively. Above those three are Kabul, Moscow, Karachi, Jakarta, Kiev, Istanbul, Cairo and Tehran, being also ranked as some of the most stressful cities to live in.
Zachary Keyser and Natan Rothstein contributed to this report.