Calculating national suffering is a tricky business, but Bloomberg experts have coped with it. The annual Unhappiness Index reflects the outlook for inflation and unemployment around the world in 2018. It is based on the widespread belief that countries with low unemployment and low inflation have a generally happy population, and vice versa.
Here are the top 10 most depressed economies in the world. All estimates are based on 2017 annual average monthly or quarterly data and 2018 projections from Bloomberg.
10. Saudi Arabia
This country for the first time was included in the top ten states with the most disadvantaged economy. According to experts, Saudi Arabia will face an “inflationary depression” - a slowdown in economic growth and an increase in prices for goods and services. And this, in turn, will lead to an increase in unemployment. So far, the unemployment rate among residents of the country has risen to 12.8% in the second quarter of 2017, up from 12.7% in the first quarter.
9. Brazil
The country of carnivals suffers from high unemployment and inflation is over 4%, but the situation is slowly improving. The unemployment rate declined steadily in 2017 and the year ended at 11.8%.
8. Spain
The country has one of the highest unemployment rates in the European Union and continues to suffer from the effects of the 2008 global financial crisis. At the same time, Bloomberg experts believe that the prospects for Spain are improving. The unemployment rate fell in 2017 from a year earlier, and economic growth continued to outpace the European average despite political unrest in Catalonia.
7.Ukraine
"Nezalezhnaya" has been devastated by the so-called "anti-terrorist operation", which is being carried out against the population in the east of the country, and is also suffering from the AIDS epidemic and high unemployment. The unemployment rate in December 2017 reached 9.5%, while inflation was 1.5%.
6.Greece
A decade after the 2008 global financial crisis, Greece is experiencing a new catastrophic crisis due to huge public debt. Unemployment in the country is at 20.9% (or 995,899 people). Among young people aged 15-24, the picture is even more sad - 43.7% of the unemployed. The Greek government is optimistic that the unemployment rate will fall to 18.4% this year.
5. Turkey
The unemployment rate in Turkey was 10.3% by October 2017, down 1.5% from 2016. This reflects a global upward trend in employment. In the third quarter of 2017, the country's economy grew by 11%, which is the fastest indicator among the G20 countries.
4. Egypt
Egypt's economy was shaken by the events that took place in the aftermath of the Arab Spring, a wave of protests and uprisings in the Arab world in 2011. In 2013, the military removed Egyptian President Mohammad Morsi from power. Then the deplorable economic situation could be corrected only by powerful financial support from the UAE, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
The unemployment rate in the fourth quarter of 2017 in Egypt fell to 11.3% from 12.4% in the same period a year earlier.Inflation in January fell by 17% against 21.9% in December.
3. Argentina
Argentine President Mauricio Macri was elected in 2015 after promising to cut inflation and restore economic growth. Indeed, inflation in the country has dropped to 25% from 40%, but remains shackled by government debt and tremendous trade union power.
2. South Africa
The unemployment rate in South Africa remains stubbornly high at around 26.7%. The country faces enormous challenges on multiple fronts: its eccentric president, Jacob Zuma, has been forced to step down following intense pressure from his party, and water supplies in the capital, Cape Town, are so low that the city may soon be forced to turn off its taps.
1. Venezuela
Overwhelmed by a protracted crisis, Venezuela has become the leader in the ranking of the most unhappy economies in the world for the fourth year now. The reason for this is hyperinflation. The sharp drop in oil prices means that dark times are coming for the economy, whose main commodity is “black gold”.
Price controls, falling imports, and shrinking foreign reserves are also tearing apart the Venezuelan economy and rapidly increasing the number of hungry Venezuelans, according to CNN. This has resulted in protests erupting across the country.
And no improvement is foreseen, according to Bloomberg. On the contrary, the situation may worsen by about three times. Indeed, in 2018, the country scored 1872 points of "misfortune", while in 2017 - 499.7 points.
Russia ranked 33rd in the Bloomberg list, down one position compared to last year's ranking.
The best economy in the world in 2018 is Thailand. Singapore was also in the top three, while Japan and Switzerland shared the third place.