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.