Say Cheese - Townsville Ranked the Happiest City in Queensland through Smiling 'Selfies'

Townsville has a lot to smile about, ranked as the happiest city in Queensland and the second happiest city in the country, according to new technology that can analyse people’s smiles in Instagram photos.

The findings are part of a broader study by Jetpac, maker of popular social travel apps, to find the happiest cities in the world.

The study, which used new "geo-parsing" technology to find patterns in over 100 million public images on Instagram, shows that Townsville came in at number one for Queensland. Among cities across the nation, Townsville ranked number two, behind Woolongong which leads the way with the highest “smile score,” a value based on the average size of smiles in photos.

Townsville Enterprise’s General Manager Tourism and Events, Patricia O’Callaghan, said the findings cement Townsville’s reputation as providing a relaxed lifestyle in a tropical setting and reaffirms why so many people are relocating to North Queensland.

“Our population is increasing at an annual rate of 2.1%- that’s an additional four thousand people each year calling Townsville home.”

“These results show that the Townsville community and visitors to our city are really enjoying what Townsville has to offer. With over 300 days of sunshine every year, access to a variety of dining outlets, unique retail, a huge array of events and entertainment, a wide of range of outdoor recreation options amongst world heritage listed rainforest and reef, we have a lot to smile about.”

View the full list of the top 15 happiest cities in Australia, according to Jetpac’s smile score analysis.