TheCable

Data compiled by Steve Hanke, an economist from John Hopkins University in Baltimore, US, has classified Nigerians as the sixth “most miserable people in the world”.

The Misery Index was calculated using economic indices including unemployment, inflation and bank lending rates.

For Nigeria, the unemployment rate was the major contributing factor.

“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, first by Robert Barro of Harvard and then by myself,” Hanke, the economist who compiled the list, told Forbes.

“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.”

Misery Index

Venezuela, Argentina and Iran, the countries which topped the index, had high inflation rates as the major contributing factors.

In total, three African countries, Nigeria, South Africa and Egypt, fell between the top 10 most miserable countries.