Wuhan, the capital city of Central China's Hubei province, has been named the happiest cities in the country, according to the latest China's Economic Life Survey.

After Wuhan, the happiest capital cities and municipalities in order were Xining, Nanchang, Hohhot, Changsha, Tianjin, Hangzhou, Fuzhou, Nanjing, and Haikou.

This year's survey showed that people in second-tier cities were most happy, followed by third-tier cities. Qinghai province, Inner Mongolia autonomous region and Jiangsu province were the top three happiest provincial-level regions.

The China's Economic Life Survey, sponsored by China Central Television, the National Bureau of Statistics, China Post Group Corp and National School of Development at Peking University, is largest national media and public survey in the country.

More than 100,000 families across 300 counties and 104 cities were involved in this nationwide study. The survey focused on indices such as income, expenditure, social security, and life quality.

According to the survey, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen were not the busiest cities any more. Zhengzhou, the capital city of Henan province, came top this year, followed by Urumqi and Harbin.

In terms of investment, the key word of this year is "stable investment". About 72 percent of respondents said they would prefer stable investment, up 8.86 percent from the previous year.