The Bloomberg Misery Index that was released on April 18 notes the “most miserable” economies are in a lonely battle fighting high alongside lofty jobless rate.
Bloomberg’s Misery Index notes that Venezuela is the most miserable economy.
Joining Venezuela in the most-distressed crowd are Argentina, South Africa, Turkey, Greece and Ukraine — each of which retained the same rank as last year, showing intense economic stress and scant progress in taming price growth and getting people back to work, according to the report.
Thailand reportedly again claimed the title of the “least miserable” economy, though the government’s unique way of tallying unemployment makes it less noteworthy than Switzerland’s improvement to second-least and Singapore managing to stay in the bottom three.
U.S. moved six spots toward 13th least miserable, and the U.K. improved four spots to 16th least.
Russia’s 17-spot deterioration in its score, to the 17th most miserable economy, is owed to projections of higher prices and stagnation in joblessness. An inflation spike last month has reportedly complicated central bankers’ plans to embark on monetary policy easing.
Bloomberg’s Misery Index sums inflation and unemployment outlooks for 62 economies, for the fifth straight year.
The Index relies on the age-old concept that low inflation and unemployment generally illustrate how good economy’s residents should feel. This year’s scores are based on Bloomberg economist surveys, while prior years reflect actual data.
Meanwhile, the World Happiness Report released by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network on March 20 notes that Finland has topped a global happiness ranking for the second year in a row. It beat Nordic peers Denmark, Norway and Iceland in a ranking of 156 countries.
The ranking saw the U.S. drop one place, to 19th, while people in South Sudan were the least happy.
The results are based on an average of three years of surveys taken by Gallup between 2016 and 2018 and include factors such as gross domestic product, social support from friends and family, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity, perceived corruption and recent emotions — both happy and sad. This year’s World Happiness Report focuses on happiness and the community: how happiness has evolved over the past dozen years, with a focus on the technologies, social norms, conflicts and government policies that have driven those changes.
