The eastern coastal city of Qingdao has been included in the list of China's 10 best cities to live in for 2019 and 2020, which was released on July 6 by China Central Television.

Shanghai, Changsha, Changchun, Beijing, Kunming, Jinan, Haikou, Shenzhen and Xiamen also made the list.

The eastern coastal city of Qingdao, Shandong province [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The ranking was determined by responses to a survey by the National Bureau of Statistics, China Post Group and the National Institute of Development at Peking University. The survey consisted of 130,000 responses from people around the country.

Sense of contentment, happiness and security were the three top criteria of the survey, with the Qingdao public expressing high satisfaction in water and air quality, security, medical service, education and green spaces.

According to the survey, residents in second- and third-tier cities have higher satisfaction in water and air quality as well as city image than first-tier city residents. However, people living in first-tier cities are more satisfied with medical service and elderly care.

Education quality in third-tier cities witnessed rapid improvement, which added to people's satisfaction, the survey added.

Hefei, Qingdao, Kunming, Haikou and Xiamen are the best cities to live in according to people aged from 18 to 35. For people aged 36 to 59, the top five best cities to live in are Changsha, Changchun, Chongqing, Jinan and Shenzhen.