Singapore may be one of the most expensive cities to live in, but it also happens to be one of the least miserable.
The republic was ranked 87 out of 89 countries — number one being the worst — with a score of 6.38 in the 2013 Global Misery Index by Cato Institute. The misery index score is the sum of a country’s inflation rate, lending rate and unemployment rate, minus year-on-year per capita GDP growth.
While inconclusive in determining the level of misery faced by a country’s citizens, the Misery Index is an economic indicator that assumes people prefer lower inflation rates, lower lending rates, lower unemployment rates and higher GDP per capita.
Venezuela tops the list with an index score of 79.4, where a host of binding government price controls has led to shortages in 28 percent of the country’s basic goods and a skyrocketing inflation rate. In fact, Prof. Steve H. Hanke, the man responsible for calculating the index scores, estimates that Venezuela’s official inflation rate of 56.2 percent is five times lower than his personal estimate of 278 percent.
12 of top 20 countries on the list — including Greece and Spain — have unemployment as the major contributing factor to their Misery Index scores.
Photo: AFP
Singapore may be one of the most expensive cities to live in, but it also happens to be one of the least miserable.
The republic was ranked 87 out of 89 countries — number one being the worst — with a score of 6.38 in the 2013 Global Misery Index by Cato Institute. The misery index score is the sum of a country’s inflation rate, lending rate and unemployment rate, minus year-on-year per capita GDP growth.
While inconclusive in determining the level of misery faced by a country’s citizens, the Misery Index is an economic indicator that assumes people prefer lower inflation rates, lower lending rates, lower unemployment rates and higher GDP per capita.
Venezuela tops the list with an index score of 79.4, where a host of binding government price controls has led to shortages in 28 percent of the country’s basic goods and a skyrocketing inflation rate. In fact, Prof. Steve H. Hanke, the man responsible for calculating the index scores, estimates that Venezuela’s official inflation rate of 56.2 percent is five times lower than his personal estimate of 278 percent.
12 of top 20 countries on the list — including Greece and Spain — have unemployment as the major contributing factor to their Misery Index scores.
Photo: AFP