Kabul. Afghanistan is the most unhappy country in the world and this situation was there even after the Taliban took over in August last year. This claim has been made in the World Happiness Report which has been declared by the United Nations and released ahead of the International Day of Happiness celebrated on Sunday.
In this annual report, in the survey of 149 countries, Afghanistan has been placed at the last place, which is given only 2.5 points. Lebanon is the second most depressed country. Botswana, Rwanda and Zimbabwe are among the five other countries at the bottom of the happiness ranking.
According to the report, for the fourth year in a row, Finland was the happiest country in the world with a score of 7.8. It is followed by Denmark, Switzerland and the Netherlands respectively.
Researchers have prepared the ranking of countries on the basis of analyzing three years of data. They took note of various categories of parameters including GDP per capita, social security system, life expectancy, freedom of life, generosity of the population and perceptions of internal and external corruption.
Afghanistan appeared to be lagging behind in all these six categories and this is a surprising result as the survey was conducted before the Taliban came to power and US and international investors have been investing for nearly 20 years. According to the US-appointed Special Inspector General in Afghanistan, his country has spent $145 billion on development works since 2002 alone, despite signs of growing dismay.
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Gallup conducted the survey in 2018 and found that some Afghans surveyed said they were optimistic about the future, while most said they had no hope.
Analyst Nusratullah Haqpal said that over the years, corruption, increasing poverty, lack of employment rapidly pushed people below the poverty line and uncertain growth added to this sense of despair.
“After the Taliban was ousted from power in 2001 and the US-led coalition declared victory, most Afghans had hope, but unfortunately the warlords and corrupt leaders focused only on the war,” he said.
Referring to the Taliban occupation of Kabul, Haqpal said, “People got poorer and poorer, they became more desperate and unhappy and so the investment in Afghanistan in 20 years collapsed in just 11 days. ” (agency)