An economist at John Hopkins University in Baltimore, US, Steve Hanke, has placed Nigeria as sixth most miserable country in the world.
The ranking which is titled ‘Hanke’s Annual Misery Index 2018: The World’s Saddest (And Happiest) Countries’, rates 95 countries based on indices such as annual inflation rate, interest rate, and unemployment rate.
Hanke wrote in Forbes magazine of March 28 that high rate of unemployment in Nigeria contributes largely to its poor rating on the Misery Index.
He wrote: “The Index has been modified several times, first by Robert Barro of Harvard and then by myself.
“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.”
Thailand and Hungary rank as the least miserable countries on the 2018 Misery Index having ranked 95th and 94th respectively.
