Afghanistan ranked last in the World Happiness Report out of 149 countries surveyed, followed by Lebanon.
Afghanistan is the most miserable country in the world – even before the Taliban came to power last August. This is stated in the so-called World Happiness Report, published on the eve of the International Day of Happiness, established by the United Nations on Sunday.
In the annual report, Afghanistan ranked last among 149 countries surveyed with a happiness score of just 2.5. Lebanon was the second saddest country in the world, with Botswana, Rwanda and Zimbabwe rounding out the bottom five.
Finland takes first place for the fourth year in a row with a score of 7.8, followed by Denmark and Switzerland, with Iceland and the Netherlands also in the top five.
The researchers ranked the countries after analyzing three years of data. They looked at several categories, including gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, social safety nets, life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, population generosity, and perceptions of levels of internal and external corruption.
Afghanistan performed poorly in all six categories, just as it did before the Taliban came to power. The country was under United States occupation for 20 years, during which Washington alone spent $145 billion on development, according to reports from the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan.
However, there were signs of growing hopelessness.
Gallup conducted a survey in 2018 and found that few Afghans surveyed have high hopes for the future. In fact, the majority said they had no hope for the future.
Afghans have endured years of war, corruption, extreme poverty and lack of work.
When Masood Ahmadi, a carpenter, returned to Afghanistan from neighboring Pakistan after the fall of the Taliban in 2001, his hopes for the future were bright.
He dreamed of opening a small furniture workshop, where up to 10 people would work. Instead, sitting in his dusty six-by-10-foot workshop on Saturday, he said he only opens twice a week due to lack of work.
“When the money came to this country, the leadership of the government took the money and considered it their personal money, and people were not helped to change their lives for the better,” Ahmadi said.
Since the Taliban returned to power in August last year, the country’s economy has been in free fall, exacerbated by US sanctions and its diplomatic and financial isolation. The Taliban have called on the international community to recognize their new government as they try to revive an economy that has suffered from decades of war and foreign interference.