Afghanistan is the unhappiest country in the world, even before the Taliban came to power last August. This is stated in the World Happiness Report published before the International Day of Happiness, designated by the UN tomorrow, Sunday.
The annual report ranked Afghanistan last among 149 countries surveyed, with a happiness rate of just 2.5. Lebanon appears as the second saddest country in the world followed by Botswana, Rwanda and Zimbabwe.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, Finland ranked first for the world’s happiest country 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.
How is happiness measured?
The researchers ranked the countries after analyzing data for three years. They looked at various categories, including gross domestic product per capita, social safety nets, life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, the generosity of the population, and perceptions of levels of internal and external corruption.
Afghanistan ranked poorly in all six categories, a confusing result that came before the Taliban arrived and despite 20 years of US and international investment.
The United States alone has spent $145 billion on development in Afghanistan since 2002, according to reports from the US special inspector general for Afghanistan.
© Moncho Torres / EFE
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Still, there were signs of growing hopelessness. Gallup did a poll in 2018 and found that few Afghans surveyed had much hope for the future. In fact, most said they had no hope for the future. Years of rampant corruption, rising poverty, lack of jobs, a steady rise in people forced below the poverty line and erratic development all combined in crushing malaise, analyst Nasratullah Haqpal said.
Not a trace of the hope shown in 2001 by the overthrow of the Taliban
Most Afghans had high hopes after 2001, when the Taliban was toppled and the US-led coalition declared victory.
“Unfortunately, the only focus was on the war, the warlords and the corrupt politicians,” Haqpal said. “People got poorer and poorer and more disappointed and more unhappy … that’s why these 20 years of investment in Afghanistan collapsed in just 11 days,” he said, referring to the Taliban’s blitzkrieg of the country before devastate Kabul in mid-August.
© EFE
Winter is coming in Afghanistan and citizens prepare for low temperatures
When Masoud Ahmadi, a carpenter, returned to Afghanistan from neighboring Pakistan after the collapse of the Taliban in 2001, his hopes for the future were bright. He dreamed of opening a small furniture-making workshop, perhaps employing as many as 10 people. Instead, sitting in his dusty 6-foot-by-10-foot workshop on Saturday, he said he opens only twice a week due to lack of work. “When the money came to this country, the government leaders took the money and counted it as their personal money, and the people did not receive help to improve their lives,” Ahmadi said.
The report warns that Afghanistan’s numbers could fall further next year when it measures how happy Afghans are after the arrival of the Taliban. The economy is currently in free fall as the group struggles to move from insurgency to government.