Turkey's Situation in the Misery Index

What is Good and Bad?

While the politicians who make up the government always try to show the country they rule with their good aspects to their own people and the outside world, the politicians forming the opposition try to explain to the society how bad everything is going and that they will fix it themselves.

In fact, listening to politicians and their fellow media members in order to understand good-bad and/or right-wrong and reach the truth only allows our perceptions to be managed. However, what needs to be done and the right result can be obtained is to examine the data and compare the situation of the country with other countries in the world.

For example, while the rulers in a country are proud of the increase in the country's exports and the opposition is talking about the increase in imports, the main point is not both, but the size of the current account deficit and whether this deficit can be closed in the optimal time. If your current account deficit is growing, it is not so important that exports increase, and if your current account deficit is shrinking, imports increase.

For example, the shining star of Asia, China, when the Gross National Product (GNP) is taken into account, is threatening the USA in terms of economic size and ranks second right after it, while the same China in GNP per capita due to its huge population, Turkey It can even lag behind.

What is the Misery Index?

There is an index that provides a full understanding of the economic situation of those living in a country and comparing them with countries in the world.

The Misery Index (The Misery Index), which has been used since 2014, was first created by economist Arthur Okun to show the economic situation of the average citizen.

Variations of the Misery Index, which is calculated by adding the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate and annual inflation rate, to which different indicators are added over the years, emerged. Economist Prof. Dr. The "World Misery Index", developed by Steve Hanke and published under the titles of "World's Most Miserable Countries", "Miserable Index", "Hanke's Annual Misery Index" in some publications, is shared with the public every year by the think tank Cato Institute.

In the World Misery Index, the index score is calculated by subtracting the annual per capita income change rate from the sum of each country's inflation rate, unemployment rate and loan interest rates created by banks. The Cato Institute, in its bulletin, announces to the public the factors that affect the country scores the most, as well as the index rankings.

Looking at Turkey's performance over the years in the World Misery Index, unfortunately, there has been a negative course since 2014.

Turkey's Place in the Ranking:

According to the reports, Turkey, which was in the 13th rank among 108 countries with a score of 32.7 in 2013, became 29.4 in 2014 and regressed to the 22nd rank in the list. (Since the index ranks from bad to better, it's good for a country to rank lower in that it indicates that misery has decreased that much.)

Turkey, which ranked 5th out of 95 countries with a score of 53.3 in 2018, did not regress in its ranking even though its index score decreased in 2019.

According to 2021 values, the poverty index rose to 47.28 in Turkey, where unemployment is 11.2 percent and the inflation rate is 36.08 percent annually. This rate was around 40 percent even in 2002, when the AKP came to power and the effects of the 2001 crisis were felt.

While poverty in Turkey has increased 2.5 times since 2016, the main reason for the rise seems to be inflation.

As for the rankings of the countries;

Turkey, which ranked 22nd in the World Misery Index list with 29.4 points in 2014, ranked 5th among 95 countries with 50.6 points in 2019.

According to the report published for the year 2020, while Turkey ranked 21st among 156 countries, it quickly entered the top 10 among 186 countries according to the latest values. Thus, Venezuela fell into the same category as troubled countries such as Sudan, Lebanon, Zimbabwe, Suriname, and Ethiopia.

Yes, no one would call their chicken winter. The visible village did not want a guide either.

Turkey ranks first among European countries in terms of poverty.

As can be seen in the image, Turkey ranks first in 40 countries that fall under the category of emerging and frontier markets, surpassing Argentina (59.1) with an index score of 59.89.

Let's add the information that only 29 of 186 countries in the world have an inflation rate of more than 10% and only 13 of them have an inflation rate of more than 20%.

Conclusion:

In short, do not look at other details, optimistic painting, political maneuvers, the truth is that our economic situation is not very pleasant, unfortunately. Let's not forget that the outcome of 2022 is not possible with these interest and unemployment rates, either, so I don't know what others will say, but empirical (obtained as a result of various observations) information is, "O Turkey, is your economic situation any good at all? It is necessary to take strict measures, reduce the level of interest, unemployment and consumption, increase savings, production and job opportunities.” says.

Let's hope someone hears our voice and takes the necessary precautions.

We wish to pass from the unbearable lightness of misery to the joyful weight of prosperity as soon as possible...