Belarus and Zimbabwe: together again

• 28.02.2013, 9:50

Belarus is on the top 5 most miserable countries of the world.

Business Insider (the US) released a list of the most miserable places in the world. The misery index's results are based on CIA World Factbook data. Belarus is ranked fourth in the index, ITAR-TASS news agency reports.

According to analysts, Belarus's score is 71. Burkina Faso (81.5), Liberia (90.5) and Zimbabwe (103.3) were called more miserable than Belarus.

The misery index is an economic indicator created by American economist Arthur Okun in the 1970s. It is calculated by adding the inflation rate and th eunemployment rate, which, experts suppose, cause misery to people. A higher score indicates a worse economic situation in a country.