The 18 most 'miserable' countries in the world

It's hard to get by when you don't have a job and the cost of living keeps rising.

This is the maxim behind economist Arthur Okun's "Misery Index," which adds together a country's unemployment and inflation rates. The higher the number, the more "miserable" your country.

There has been criticism of the index. Extensive studies have shown that unemployment influences happiness (or, rather, unhappiness) significantly more than inflation.

Still, few would argue that both unemployment and inflation are bad when they are very high.

In light of that, Business Insider compiled a list of the 18 most miserable countries based on 2014 data available at the CIA World Factbook. Some countries struggle with both high unemployment and inflation, while others have one rate asymmetrically higher than the other.

Some countries are absent from the list because data was either unavailable or outdated.