The State of the Misery Index in Iran
Official international statistics indicate that in 2022, Iran was ranked as the eighth country in the world with the highest recorded Misery Index. Moreover, within less than two decades, the Misery Index in the country has more than doubled.
Research shows that last year, this figure reached 57 for Iran, marking the highest recorded level of misery in the country’s last three decades. In 2022, only Zimbabwe, Venezuela, Lebanon, Sudan, Turkey, Argentina, and Suriname had higher indices than Iran.
However, this is not the first time Iran has been placed high on the global misery ranking. Data from the International Monetary Fund and the International Labour Organization show that in the past twenty years, Iran has been among the top twelve countries with the highest Misery Index for 14 years.
The Most Miserable Possible Situation
The Misery Index is the algebraic sum of the inflation rate and unemployment rate, which has been used in the political economy literature since the mid-1970s as a tool to measure economic crisis in countries.
As shown in the chart below, over the past two decades, the unemployment rate has not changed significantly and has remained relatively stable. However, severe inflationary fluctuations have caused Iran to spend about the last 15 years in the most miserable possible situation.
The Misery Index is also one of the most common indicators in political economy for assessing livelihood crises. This index was first introduced by American economist Arthur Melvin Okun, quickly gaining the attention of politicians, including Jimmy Carter, who frequently referred to this index during his 1976 U.S. presidential campaign and eventually reached the White House.
In Iran, during the 2009 presidential election campaign, Mohsen Rezaee’s reference to the Misery Index in a televised debate with his electoral rival and then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad brought this economic indicator into the public sphere.
Currently, the Misery Index in the country has more than doubled compared to 2009.