How do urban and government factors play an important role in mental health of citizens?

Purpose Prior studies have barely explored how socio-demographic, urban and government factors play an important role in mental health of citizens, and this study highlights how socio-demographic, urban and government factors play a different role in happiness, depression and life satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach This study employs the hierarchical linear regression based on Gyeonggi Province in South Korea. Findings National and local governments and all urban factors play an important role in happiness, whereas socio-demographic factors do not exert a significant impact on it. For example, safety has the highest effect on happiness (0.272), followed by environment (0.211), local government (0.085), national government (0.070) and education (0.057). Second, most socio-demographic factors and urban factors exert a significant influence on depression. For example, age and safety have the highest impact on the low depression (0.271 and 0.125, respectively). Third, all urban factors and local governments have an essential effect on life satisfaction. For example, safety has the highest impact on life satisfaction (0.212), ahead of environment (0.205), local government (0.106) and education (0.065). Originality/value To the best of my knowledge, this study is the first article exploring the effects of socio-demographic, urban and government factors on the thoughts on happiness, depression and life satisfaction, respectively, by employing econometric models.