Belarus became the most unhappy country in the world

Belarus for the first time appeared in the world misery index and surely took there a place of the most unhappy country, having excluded Ukraine.

Misery index was introduced in 70s of last century by the American economist Arthur Okun, who proposed to calculate the index by summing up inflation and unemployment, as they hit the well-being of ordinary citizens the most.

The majority of the countries got to the end of the rating because of high unemployment. Only the Republic of Belarus for the first time is ranked in the list, and appeared as the most unhappy due to ultra-high inflation (36.3%) because of the economic crisis. Norway - the country with zero inflation - also for the first came to the list and immediately took the first place (3.4 points in the misery index). However, Switzerland and Japan (the 2nd and 3rd places in the list), didn't get far behind. At present the three countries should be recognized as the "happiest".

Russia for the first time outrun the United States by this indicator and became a bit happier - 11.3 points against 11.7.