Pick up the pace!

People all over the world are living faster-paced lives today than a decade ago. Big surprise, right? Well, there have actually been studies to prove it. In 1994, researchers took stock of just how quickly pedestrians walked in major cities. This year, a follow-up study was done, and some cities—Singapore, for example—have increased the speed of their steps by up to 30 percent in that time. The average big-city resident has stepped it up 10 percent. To conduct the study, which was carried out with help from the British Council, researchers timed how long it took 35 people to walk 60 feet on a large, uncrowded street. Here is the list of the fastest-paced cities and their average times, in seconds:

1. Singapore, Singapore: 10.55

2. Copenhagen, Denmark: 10.82

3. Madrid, Spain: 10.89

4. Guangzhou, China: 10.94

5. Dublin, Ireland: 11.03

6. Curitiba, Brazil: 11.13

7. Berlin: 11.16

8. New York City: 12.00

9. Utrecht, Netherlands: 12.04

10. Vienna, Astria: 12.06

11. Warsaw, Poland: 12.07

12. London: 12.17

13. Zagreb, Croatia: 12.20

14. Prague, Czech Republic: 12.35

15. Wellington, New Zealand: 12.62

Source: www.reuters.com