CCTV announces list of China's 10 happiest cities on Feb 5. [Photo/sohu.com]

Hohhot, in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region came fourth in CCTV's annual ranking of happiest cities in China.

The city has been honored as one of the top 10 happiest cities in China for three years in a row.

Other cities included in the list were Wuhan, Xining, Nanchang, Changsha, Tianjin, Fuzhou, Hangzhou, Nanjing and Haikou.

CCTV worked with the National Bureau of Statistics, China Post Group, the National School of Development and more than 10 internet firms to do research for the ranking. This is the 12th consecutive year it has been published.

A chart shows the top 10 factors influencing people's sense of happiness. [Photo/sohu.com]

Researchers measured three key indicators including sense of fulfillment, happiness and security and other 38 indicators like residents' incomes, social security and education through online and offline questionnaires and big data acquisition.

More than 100,000 people nationwide answered questionnaires evaluating 104 cities.