KINGSTON, Jamaica – Economist Arthur Okun created a ‘Misery Index’, which adds a country's unemployment and inflation rates to deduce if a country is miserable.
The higher the number, the more ‘miserable’ a country is deemed to be.
According to the Business Insider, despite criticisms, extensive studies have shown that unemployment influences happiness or, rather, unhappiness, significantly more than inflation.
In light of that, Business Insider compiled a list of the 18 most 'miserable' countries based on 2014 data available at the CIA World Factbook.
Jamaica has been listed as number 17.
Jamaica’s Misery-index score, according to the Business Insider, is 20.7 per cent, with a consumer price index (CPI) inflation of 7.1 per cent and an unemployment rate of 13.6 per cent.
“Jamaica's economy relies heavily on the services sector, including tourism. Unfortunately, the country suffers from high crime and corruption and a high unemployment — which leads to more crime,” said the Business Insider
They added that the Government is battling a two-headed hydra — it needs to achieve fiscal discipline to maintain debt payments and it wants to confront the serious crime problem.
Other countries included in the list are Tunisia, Croatia, Spain, Ukraine, Mongolia, Egypt, Greece, Iran, Serbia, Macedonia, South Africa, Lesotho, Yemen, Argentina, Djibouti, Syria,Venezuela and Jamaica.
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