Uruguay is known for its beach towns and tourism is an important facet of the nation's economy, but due to high interest rates, it earned a misery index of 23.8, making it the 25th most miserable country in the world, according to the Cato Institute's study. (MIGUEL ROJO/AFP/Getty Images)
As some of the world's most popular tourist destinations, Greece, Costa Rica and Spain have many things in common, including sun-kissed beaches, stunning natural wonders and an abundance of cultural treasures. They also have a less desirable characteristic in common — a high "misery index" that ranks them among the most miserable countries in the world, according to The Cato Institute.
The Washington, DC-based think tank ranked 90 countries according to their misery index — a scorecalculated using the sum of the unemployment rate, lending rate and inflation rate, minus the percentage change in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita — in its latest study.
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The countries listed in the misery index were selected based on data from the Economist Intelligence Unit and calculations from Steve Hanke, a professor of Applied Economics at Johns Hopkins University.
Inflation was found to be the major contributing factor plaguing three of the top four countries in the list. Unemployment and high interest rates are the other factors boosting the other nations' misery index.
Click through the slideshow above to see the 25 most miserable countries in the world. View the full report here.
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