Rising inflation in Canada, combined with rising unemployment, has made it the 6th most miserable country among the world’s 35 advanced economies.
“Canadians are rightly concerned about the country’s high inflation and unemployment. Compared to other developed countries, things are not going well in Canada,” concluded Jason Clements, Vice President of the Fraser Institute and co-author of the Return of the Misery Index report.
The study found that out of the 35 most developed economies in the world, Canada ranks 6th in the misery index, with a score of 10.88 in 2021, which is a combination of inflation rates and unemployment.
Only five countries are more unhappy than Canada. Spain is the worst off with a misery index of 17.61, followed by Greece (15.73), Italy (11.96) and Iceland (11.26).
Other countries less dissatisfied than Canada include France (10.10), the United States (9.72), Australia (7.33) and the United Kingdom (7.17).
The least dissatisfied countries with the lowest scores on the index are Switzerland (3.57) and Japan (2.61).
The misery index was developed by the American economist Arthur Okun to take into account both the costs of high inflation and high unemployment.
While the poverty index dominated political debate in the 1970s and 1980s, it all but disappeared from public debate in the early 1990s when inflation was brought under control and kept low. And unemployment at that time in most countries also tended to decline.
“The fact that we’re discussing again the misery index and Canada’s high ranking in this regard is bad news for all Canadians who will suffer from it,” said Jason Clemens. “Governments across Canada, especially the federal government, should prioritize policies that make Canadians less miserable by reducing inflation and unemployment.”
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