Stress levels rising in most of crisis-hit Asia: Survey

Stress levels rising in most of crisis-hit Asia: Survey

SINGAPORE (Reuters): Asians are finding life much more
stressful this year as regional economic crises pinch pay packets
and make many work harder, a survey by a Hong Kong-based
consulting firm says.

"This year Asia is widely considered to be a much more
stressful place in which to live than was the case as recently as
1996," the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC) said in
its latest newsletter.

People in Vietnam were the most stressed, scoring 8.5 on a
scale of zero to 10, a PERC survey found, followed by South Korea
at 8.2 and Thailand, which rated 7.8. Hong Kong and the
Philippines were tied for fourth place in the stress survey with
both registering 6.8 on the scale. They were followed by China at
6.7, Indonesia at 6.6, Singapore at 6.5, Japan at 6.2 and India
at 6.1.

Malaysia was at 5.6 and Taiwan 5.5, also higher than in 1996.
India was the only Asian country where people were less stressed
than last year, PERC said. Stress levels in Australia, the United
Kingdom and the United States, though higher than 1996, were
still lower than Asian countries, it added.

While the PERC newsletter detailed individual factors for each
Asian country related to their levels, it said: "The most notable
feature of our survey was not that Vietnam again scored the worst
grade for stress or that Taiwan scored the lowest grade, but that
all the grades for Asia were poor."

And while many reasons could be involved, PERC suggested that
broadly speaking "money matters are at least a contributing
factor."

"It is harder for most companies to make money this year than
last, which means that employees are having to accept lower pay
increases. Meanwhile their workloads have often increased and
their working experiences have become more difficult."

The "single factor most often cited as being the biggest cause
of stress was difficulties balancing professional life with
social or family life," PERC said.

It said its findings were based on a survey of more than 500
locals and expatriates in Asia in September and October, as well
as several hundred responses from Asia and elsewhere to a survey
question posted on PERC's Internet Web page.

The survey was a subjective assessment in which respondents
rated stress levels in the countries in which they lived based on
their personal experiences and interpretation of the meaning of
stress, and listed the single factor they considered most
stressful, PERC said.