What are the most "unfortunate" countries in the world (and Latin America), according to the economist Steve Hanke's index

An indicator measures which countries are the most and least unfortunate in economic terms. There are three Latin Americans among the 10 most unfortunate.

Venezuela, where citizens protest against the lack of basic services such as electricity, is at the top of the list of the most disadvantaged countries.

Economically, countries can also be happy or unhappy, badyzes the American economist Steve Hanke.

If a country is experiencing high inflation rates, high cost of debt and unemployment, it is very likely that it will be unfortunate.

If a country is experiencing high inflation rates, high cost of debt and unemployment, it is highly likely that it is unfortunate

And conversely, if a country experiences economic growth, inflation, low interest rates and low unemployment, it tends to be happier. Hanke, professor of applied economics at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, United States, produces the annual rate of the most unfortunate countries (
Misery Index, in English).

And in 2018, at one end of the indicator lies

Thailand

, as the happiest country. While

Venezuela

figure as the most miserable.

How and what is calculated?

The index was created by the American economist Art Okum in the 1960s and showed only the sum of the country's annual inflation rate and unemployment.

Over the years, the indicator has gone from hand to hand and has undergone modifications until reaching the current version with the changes made by Hanke.

The index reflects the sum of the unemployment, inflation and bank credit rates of a country, minus the percentage change in real gross domestic product (GDP) per capita.

So, if a country gets a high score in the indicator, it reflects a higher level of "misery".

The most miserable

According to the index published last March, the most unfortunate country in 2018 was the

Venezuela

ranked 1 out of 95 countries surveyed with 1746,439.1 points.

This country of South America, plunged for several years into a deep economic, political and social crisis, has been at the top of the list since 2015.

It has the highest inflation rate in the world and a general lack of food and medicine. But Venezuela has seen a drastic increase over the past year with the collapse of the economy, Hanke said.

And for the economist, the solution to fight the country's hyperinflation and make it less regrettable is to implement political changes and a new exchange regime, he said.

"Until Argentina leaves the besieged peso and replaces it with the US dollar, it will be miserable," writes Hanke in Forbes.

Second place among the most unfortunate countries is occupied by another South American nation:

Argentina

. The country has 105.6 points in the index and jumped to the second position last year (after the fourth place occupied in 2017) after suffering a further devaluation of the peso and a rise in prices at the same time. consumption, which reached 47%. in 2018. "Until Argentina leaves the besieged peso and replaces it with the US dollar, it will be miserable," wrote Hanke in Forbes.

Iran ranks third with 75.7 points and Brazil, with 53.6 points, is fourth.

The least miserable

The least unhappy country of 2018 was

Thailand

ranked 95th in the countries studied in the index with 1.7 points.

The Thai economy, at around US $ 515 million, grew by 4.1 percent in 2018, the largest increase in six years, Reuters reported.

The military government that has governed since the 2014 coup has given stability to the country and the party promoting Palang Pracharath was rewarded in the March 24 elections, said Hanke.

Although the official election results are not yet known, the Thai Election Commission said that the final vote count showed that the promilitar party won the popular vote.

But a military government is not necessarily the key to happiness. In fact, Hungary (with 2.6 points),

Japan

(3,3) and

L & # 39; Austria

(3.9) follow

Thailand

like the least miserable countries.

The best placed in Latin America, meanwhile, is

Chile

in position 58, with 10.3 points. They follow him

Panama

(10.7) in position 54 and

Bolivia

(10.8) in place 52.