World’s LEAST miserable countries revealed… and both the UK and US rank in the top 30!

It is second to none as a nation when it comes to timepiece, chocolate and cheese.

But now there is another award Switzerland can be proud of: it is officially the least miserable country in the world.

This is evident from an annual ‘misery index’, which ranks nearly 160 countries on factors such as unemployment rates, inflation and bank loans.

Nestled in the heart of the Alps and home to around nine million people, the Central European country has now ranked among the top twenty for seven years in a row.

The Central European country, which is home to about nine million people, has now been among the top twenty for seven years in a row. Switzerland, famous for its decadent chocolate and creamy cheese, is one of the richest in the world and among the best in terms of life expectancy

Switzerland is one of the richest countries in the world, blessed with one of the highest life expectancies, a highly acclaimed education system and a stable economy.

Hanke’s Annual Misery Index ranked Kuwait second, Ireland third, and Japan fourth.

However, Great Britain came 29th, after finishing fourth in the 2021 edition.

Professor Steve Hanke, the economist behind the ranking, claimed that inflation – which stood at 10.1 percent in March – has been a “key factor” in the chart’s fall.

Despite now trending downwards, it caused the biggest rise in food prices since 1977 and added £800 to the average household’s annual bill.

Unemployment figures are also inconsistent.

The UK unemployment rate for those aged 16 and over was 4.9 per cent in January 2021, falling to 3.7 per cent in 2022 before rising slightly to 3.9 per cent in 2023.

But the US went the other way and leapfrogged Britain, jumping from 55th to 24th.

Unemployment was the biggest impact factor, with just 3.4 percent of Americans (5.7 million) unemployed in April — the lowest level in decades.

Professor Hanke said one of the biggest factors behind Switzerland’s success is the Swiss debt brake – a mechanism for overall budget management aimed at avoiding chronic deficits and rising debt.

The economist said it “has worked like a charm.”

The misery ranking is based on an algorithm that scores each country based on their unemployment, inflation, interest rates and GDP growth.

It does not take into account other metrics such as resident polls or health.

The scores are the sum of unemployment (multiplied by two), inflation, and bank loans, minus the annual percentage change in real GDP per capita.

Meanwhile, Zimbabwe is the most miserable country in the world, trumping Venezuela, Cuba and war-torn Syria.

Professor Hanke said one of the biggest factors behind Zimbabwe’s ‘most miserable’ position is that the political party rules with an ‘iron grip’. The past three decades have seen allegations of election manipulation and violence.

Zimbabwe, home to about 16 million people, has been plagued for decades by eye-watering cost-of-living spikes and controversial former President Robert Mugabe, whose 37 years in power have been plagued by corruption and violence. Under Mugabe and his successor Emmerson Mnangagwa (right), Zimbabwe has experienced two periods of hyperinflation – when prices rise by 50 percent or more each month

And under Mugabe and his successor, President Emmerson Mnangagwa, it has experienced two periods of hyperinflation – when prices rise by 50 percent or more each month.

The plummeting value of the currency led to shocking scenes of people filling buckets with cash – just to buy a loaf of bread.

He said: ‘With the elections just around the corner, [opposition leader] Nelson Chamisa and his Citizens Coalition for Change are doing well in the polls, and assuming there will be fair and free elections in Zimbabwe, he could well lift Zimbabwe out of the gutter.”

Popular among young people and the unemployed, Chamisa has promised to solve the country’s economic situation.

Along with Zimbabwe, Venezuela, Syria, Lebanon and Sudan are also among the most miserable.

Last year’s least miserable country, Libya, whose oil revenues will grow about 3.7 times in 2021, growing GDP per capita to a record 62.6 percent, now ranks 127th place, just 22 places ahead of war-torn Ukraine.