Lhasa, the city of sunlight, topped an annual survey of residents' sense of happiness in Chinese cities.

The capital of the Tibet autonomous region has ranked at the top of the survey conducted by China Central Television for five consecutive years.

People in colorful Tibetan costumes pictured in front of the Potala Palace in Lhasa, capital of the Tibet autonomous region, in July. [Photo: Xinhua]

In this year’s list, Lhasa was followed by Taiyuan, capital of Shanxi province, Hefei, capital of Anhui province, Tianjin municipality, Changsha, capital of Hunan province, and Hohhot, capital of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

The capital cities where residents have the most leisure time include Guiyang, Haikou, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Lhasa, Chengdu and Chongqing.

Around 100,000 households from 104 cities were polled for the survey.

The results showed income level most affected people’s sense of well-being (55.5 percent), followed by health (48.9 percent) and quality of marriage or love life (32 percent).

Among people with an annual income of 100,000 yuan ($15,700) or more, 6 percent of respondents said they did not have enough free time, compared with 12 percent for those earning 20,000 yuan or less a year.

People’s favorite leisure time activities are surfing the Web and watching TV. Only a small percentage of respondents said they used free time for education, training, going to the gym or social life, according to the results.

Zou Jun, director of the Jiangsu Institute of Urban Planning and Design in Nanjing, said although similar rankings have been conducted by different organizations, the effort is worthwhile because it helps city administrators create new development paths that give greater consideration to residents’ welfare.