The gold medal for “reversal of fortune” goes to… The United States of America.
The annual Bloomberg Index, published on 6 August, shows the U.S. dropping from #50 all the way down to #25 on the global misery list. This puts the U.S.A. behind both Russia and Mexico.
Bloomberg arrived at the current scoring based on economic estimates for price growth and joblessness as compared to the previous year.
While America showed the most dramatic increase in misery, virtually all worldwide economies are seen to be more miserable this year after closing down their economies to deal with COVID-19 and now with struggles to reopen.
The five countries coming in as the most miserable for the second year in a row are Venezuela, Argentina, South Africa, Turkey, and Columbia.
Venezuela, subjected to severe sanctions under the lead of the United States, has ranked the most miserable for six consecutive years. According to Bloomberg, the country now suffers from an inflation rate of 4,043 percent.
Among the fortunate few countries which actually saw improvements in the rankings were Luxembourg, most improved; followed by China (despite being the origin of the coronavirus spread), and Germany.
The index listed the following as the “least miserable” economies: Thailand, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia, and Switzerland.
For the vast majority of countries surveyed, the lockdowns in response to COVID-19 are projected to make life “more miserable.”
