Study names Cairo 'world's most 24-hour city'

CAIRO: Cairo, the strife-torn capital of Egypt, was named “the world’s most 24-hour city” by a global study of the planet’s most round-the-clock metropolises.

The first global ranking of the world’s “most 24-hour” – as in “most nocturnal” – cities, is based on analysing 120 million online chats and flirts made over two months on Badoo (www.badoo.com), the world’s largest social network for meeting new people, with 122 million users across 180 countries.

Badoo’s study finds that online chatting and flirting in Cairo peak at nearly 1 am, a full three hours later than in New York.

No one could accuse Cairo, a seething city of some 17 million, of being sterile or sleepy. Cairo residents (“Cairenes”) go out until 1 or 2 am, then have something to eat or hit an internet café and use social networking sites to check who’s around.

There’s a rush-hour between 2 and 4 am, when most of the night-clubs and many bars close.

But Cairo’s nocturnal lifestyle is not just a matter of the young clubbing the night away. At midnight in many a brightly lit Cairo neighbourhood, the streets buzz with friends sharing a shisha [syrupy tobacco] at a local café, or, families and children out shopping, playing or strolling.

While Cairo can pride itself on its nocturnal buzz, especially in areas like Zamalek, known for its nightlife, Cairo’s status as the true city that never sleeps is not entirely a cause for celebration.

The fact is that many Cairenes get less sleep than they need.

“Studies estimate that some five million people in Cairo – almost a third of the population – suffer from a sleeping disorder,” says Jailan Zayan, a Cairo journalist and author of the book Egypt – Culture Smart!: The Essential Guide to Customs and Culture.

“Sleep problems result from factors including stress, unemployment and Cairo s notorious noise levels,” she said.

In fact, the city’s first sleep clinic was set up two years ago to treat such problems.
If many Cairo residents need to get more sleep, another conclusion from Badoo’s study is that the Big Apple needs to rethink its image as the city that never sleeps.

Cairo edges Montevideo, capital of Uruguay, into second in the global rankings. Beirut, capital of the Lebanon, ranks third and Malaga fourth. Spanish cities make up six of the world top 10.

Meanwhile, New York, famed as “the city that never sleeps,” ranks just 32nd, well behind London, Paris, Rome and an embarrassingly long list of other cities.

“Our figures suggest that New Yorkers are climbing into bed at around the time that their Cairo counterparts are preparing to go out,” says Lloyd Price, Badoo’s director of Marketing. “This will confirm the fears of those who say that New York, the city that once defined urban buzz, has grown sterile and sleepy.”

Malaga, on Spain’s Costa del Sol, is named Europe’s most 24-hour city, while Madrid (6th globally) is Europe’s most 24-hour capital, ahead of Brussels (11th), Istanbul (12th), Belgrade (14th) and Lisbon (15th).

London beats Paris but ranks just 17th globally. Paris places 18th, Rome 27th and Moscow 31st.

Badoo’s rankings are based on its own “Nocturnal Index” for each city. This combines measurement of peak times for chatting and flirting with a “Night/Day Ratio,” comparing online activity levels by night and by day.

Like Cairo and London, almost all the cities in Badoo’s world top 20 register more online activity at night – defined as 7pm to 7am – than by day. New York is among cities that register the opposite. –Daily News Egypt

ŠΘ
#