LONDON: Kuwaitis have been ranked the second happiest populace in the world, according to the latest results of an annual index.
The rankings of the Annual Misery Index, compiled by Steve Hanke, professor of applied economics at Johns Hopkins University, put the Gulf country ahead of the likes of Ireland, Japan and Thailand in the ranking for “happiest countries.”
Switzerland topped the list, while Muslim-majority Malaysia came in fifth spot.
Meanwhile, four Arab countries were ranked among the most “miserable” nations on Earth, with Yemen in seventh, Sudan fifth, Lebanon fourth and Syria third.
Zimbabwe topped the chart and Ukraine, unsurprisingly given its brutal war with Russia, was eighth.
The rankings are calculated using the sum of inflation, unemployment (multiplied by two), bank-lending rates, minus the annual percentage change in real gross domestic product per capita, according to The Telegraph.
Much like Zimbabwe, Lebanon’s soaring inflation was a “major contributor” to its high misery ranking, Hanke said. Elsewhere, years-long conflicts in Syria and Yemen, and the fresh skirmishes in Sudan, were leading factors in their places on the “misery list.”
