Zimbabwe is the world's most miserable country, finds annual survey

The political environment of Zimbabwe is key in getting the country rank 1 in misery

Zimbabwe has been declared as the world’s most miserable country according to the Hanke’s Annual Misery Index 2022 (HAMI) that ranks countries based on how miserable they are and what the contributing factors are. The list was compiled after analysing 157 countries.

Ranking first on the list with a Misery Index of 414.7 and the major contributing factor being inflation is Zimbabwe, followed by Venezuela, Syria, Lebanon, Sudan and Argentina. All of these countries have inflation to blame, except for Syria, which has made it to the list owing to unemployment.

As per the compilation by professor Steve H Hanke of Johns Hopkins University, “The Misery Index is the sum of the unemployment rate multiplied by 2, the end-period consumer prices rate, and the lending rate, minus the growth in Real GDP Per Capita.”

In simple words, HAMI = [(Unemployment * 2) + Inflation + Bank‐Lending Rate] − Real GDP Growth

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In addition to inflation, the political environment of Zimbabwe is another major contributing factor in the country's poor performance, explained Hanke as he called the ruling party ZANU-PF a “political mafia”.

In his analysis, Hanke even pointed out that Zimbabwe has suffered endemic inflation as well as two episodes of hyperinflation in the past. Emphasizing the grip that the ZANU-PF has had on politics and, in turn, the economy of Zimbabwe, Hanke expressed hopes that citizens would “pull Zimbabwe out of the gutter” by voting for Nelson Chamisa, the President of the Citizens Coalition for Change in the upcoming elections.

Among others, Yemen is ranked 7, while Ukraine is positioned at 8 with its ongoing war with Russia affecting the unemployment rate in the country. Sri Lanka, meanwhile, stands at rank 11, having just undergone a political and economic upheaval. Among other notable mentions are Brazil at 27, Pakistan at 35, and Myanmar at 39, with the latter two also in the grips of political crises.

While India ranks at 103, Switzerland is the least miserable country in the world according to the index with a score of 8.518.

The happiest country in the world, Finland is ranked 109, just 6 ranks apart from India, with unemployment being a major contributing factor behind its poor performance.

The other counties that are least miserable are Kuwait, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia and Taiwan.