‘Jordan fourth most miserable country in region, 32nd in world’

AMMAN — Jordan is the fourth most miserable country in the Arab world and 32nd globally, according to the World Misery Index prepared by Steve Hanke, director of the Troubled Currencies Project at the US-based Cato Institute.

Ranked from most miserable (1) to least-miserable (109), and based on the ability of the 109 featured countries to “lower inflation, unemployment and lending rates, while increasing gross domestic product per capita”, the report showed that Syria ranked first globally and regionally as the most miserable country. 

It was followed regionally by Sudan, Egypt and Jordan.

The largest contributing factor to Jordan’s “miserable score” of 24.2 points was unemployment, which stood at 11.4 per cent in the third quarter of 2014, reaching 9.2 per cent among men and 22 per cent among women.

The overall unemployment rate in the third quarter decreased by 0.6 per cent compared with the second quarter of 2014, according to a statement released by the Department of Statistics (DoS). 

In the third quarter last year, unemployment registered a record high of 14 per cent, according to DoS.

Jordan’s global ranking was better than Spain, which ranked 11th, and Turkey, which ranked 27th, according to the index. 

The index by the Cato Institute, which was founded in 1977, compiled data from the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the National Bureau of Labour Statistics.

Among Arab states, Bahrain was ranked as the least miserable country, followed by Qatar, Kuwait, Morocco and Algeria.

The least miserable country in the world was Switzerland, followed by Japan and China respectively.