While overall the world is improving, there is not much to be optimistic about in the 11 saddest countries in the world. Most studies tend to focus on the happiest countries in the world. These are almost always dominated by countries located in Western Europe such as Norway, Denmark, and Switzerland. These countries enjoy a high GDP per capita, a high standard of living, a low unemployment rate and a high economy.
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However, little attention is paid to the countries that rank at the bottom of such a list. The outlook does not seem to be positive for them, with most of these countries facing economic instability, high unemployment and in more cases than not, internal strife. Unsurprisingly, a lot of the countries featured on this list belong to Africa, which has several countries where most of the population lives in poverty.
Nowadays, happiness is considered to be an extremely important indicator of a country’s social progress. It helps to realize the plight of the citizens in a country with poor progress, while also appreciating the advantages afforded to citizens in a country with a positive outlook.
The World Happiness Report, prepared by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network, takes into consideration a multitude of factors, such as GDP per capita, social support, life expectancy, perception of corruption, freedom to make choices and generosity in order to come up with a ranking of the world’s happiest countries as well as the saddest countries in the world.
