ZIMBABWE has been adjudged the most miserable country in the world on American economist Steve Hanke’s 2022 Misery Index because of the high cost of living.
Hanke, a professor of Applied Economics at Johns Hopkins University also said the high unemployment in the country was contributing to misery among citizens.
The misery ranking is calculated by multiplying the rate of unemployment by two, then inflation, and bank-lending rates, minus the annual percentage change in real gross domestic product (GDP) per capita.
Hanke’s misery list comes after the World Bank ranked Zimbabwe as having the world’s third highest food price inflation at 102%.
Prices of basic goods continue to skyrocket while the local currency continues on a free-fall trading at US$1:$4 000 on the parallel market.
“Thanks to stunning inflation, high unemployment, high lending rates, and anaemic real gross domestic product growth, Zimbabwe clocks in as the world's most miserable country in the Hanke 2022 Annual Misery Index,”Hanke tweeted.
“Need I say more?”
Other countries on the misery list include Venezuela, Syria, Lebanon, Sudan, Argentina, Yemen, Ukraine, Cuba and Turkey.
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