The latest analysis on global misery level published by Steve Hanke, an economist from John Hopkins University in Baltimore, United States, indicated that Nigeria ranked as the sixth most miserable country in the world.
In his writing in the Forbes magazine of March 28, titled ‘Hanke’s Annual Misery Index 2018: The World’s Saddest (And Happiest) Countries’, the researcher stated that the Misery Index was calculated using economic indices such as unemployment, inflation and banks’ interest charges on loans.
Hanke attributed the increasing worrisome misery level globally mainly to spiraling inflation rates, increasing costs of borrowing to national economies and rising unemployment.
He stated: “In the sphere of economics, misery tends to flow from high inflation, steep borrowing costs and unemployment.”
According to the latest Misery Index, Hanke linked the high rate of unemployment in Nigeria to the nation’s poor ranking.
In his explanatory notes to the latest index, the author explained that while the original Misery Index was just a simple sum of a nation’s annual inflation rate and its unemployment rate, the Index has been modified several times in recent times, first by Robert Barro of Harvard and then by him..
He expatiates: “My modified Misery Index is the sum of the unemployment, inflation and bank lending rates, minus the percentage change in real GDP per capita.
“Higher readings on the first three elements are ‘bad’ and make people more miserable. These are offset by a ‘good’ (GDP per capita growth), which is subtracted from the sum of the ‘bads.’
“A higher Misery Index score reflects a higher level of ‘misery,’ and it’s a simple enough metric that a busy president, without time for extensive economic briefings, can understand at a glance”, Hanke wrote.
Out of the 95 countries ranked by Hanke in the 2018 Misery Index, Thailand and Hungary ranked as the least miserable countries in the world, having ranked 95th and 94th respectively.
Venezuela, Argentina, Iran, Brazil and Turkey led in that order, with Nigeria ranking in the sixth position after Turkey which ranked 5th.
