The Hanke’s Annual Misery Index (HAMI) which judges nations basing on economic conditions, indicates that Zimbabwe has emerged as the most miserable country.
Other countries on the list of the top 15 most miserable nations as per the New York Post are Venezuela, Syria, Lebanon, Sudan, Argentina, Yemen, Ukraine, Cuba, Turkey, Sri Lanka, Haiti, Angola, Tonga, and Ghana.
Steve H. Hanke, a professor of Applied Economics at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland noted that, the high levels of unemployment and the striking inflation rate, among others have contributed to Zimbabwe’s miserable state.
“Thanks to the stunning inflation, high unemployment, high lending rates and anemic real GDP growth, Zimbabwe clocks in as the world’s most miserable country in the Hanke 2022 annual misery index,” Hanke said.
The list consisting of 157 countries has indicated that Switzerland has the lowest HAMI scores, which means that its people are the happiest. Second on the list was Kuwait, followed by Ireland, Japan, Malaysia, Taiwan, Niger, Thailand, Togo, and Malta.
Meanwhile in East Africa, Rwanda came as the 20th, Congo as the 28th, Burundi as 55th, Uganda as 71st, Kenya as 87th, Tanzania as 99th.
The main causes for these miseries is attributed to the country’s policies like the country’s bank lending rate. Other causes are, high levels of unemployment and high inflation rates.
Hankes said that the only way countries with high scores can come out of such misery is to balance their debt-credit ratio, create more employment opportunities for the better livelihood of their people.
