There are 106,598 people in Ernakulam District who are unemployed and are registered as looking for work as compared with the 160,500 who are employed. The unemployment figure is rising by 1,000 a month. Additionally, there is an unwillingness among the educated to do manual labor. Many people are involved in traditional forms of agriculture and self-employed small businesses. Others tend to head to the Gulf to find work.
Mosquitoes are present but less so than other places because of the presence of the ocean.
The sea is often within sight, and the atmosphere is generally more airy and fresh compared to many other Indian city centres. Cochin is a natural harbor. The city developed from the ancient port of Kochi which lies at the tip of a peninsula separated from the mainland by backwaters. Ernakulam town on the mainland developed later. The city has traded with the Arabs, Chinese, Portuguese, Dutch and the British for centuries.