Many of us believe that South Africa is quite simply the best country to live in on the planet. But have you heard of the “misery index”? It’s a measure which takes into account a country’s unemployment and inflation rates. Here’s the list of the 15 most miserable countries in the world for 2011. Take a guess where SA ranks – it’s not cheerful.

15. Argentina
14. Ireland
13. Latvia
12. Jordan
11. Turkey
10. Pakistan
9. Oman
8. Greece
7. India
6. Lithuania
5. Egypt
4. Spain
3. Vietnam
2. South Africa
1. Venezuela

The so-called “misery index”, dreamed up by economist Arthur Okun, is calculated by adding together unemployment and inflation factors. Business Insider calculated figures for 81 countries that consistently report bad unemployment and CPI figures.

It’s a simplistic measure, but South Africa is more miserable than 80 other countries in the world. Have a happy day now.

[Source: Business Insider]