Ethiopia One of the Saddest Countries in the World Ethiopia One of the Saddest Countries in the World?
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Addis Ababa, January 1, 2012 (Ezega.com) - Last week Forbes Magazine, in its list of the happiest and saddest countries in the world, disclosed that we are one of three saddest nations in the world. The recently released 2011 index, billed as an "inquiry into global wealth and well being," provided the status of 110 countries on happiness and prosperity. According to the list Ethiopia, next to Central African Republic and Zimbabwe, has become a country where its citizens are sad and unsatisfied with their living standard.
The magazine detailed the standards it used to determine whether a people in a given nation are in a state of fulfillment or frustration. Based on the forty years of study in several countries, there seems to be identified ingredients for happiness. According to the magazine, these ingredients of happiness and prosperity are economy, entrepreneurship, governance, education, health, safety, personal freedom, and social capital. Among eight countries topping the list from bottom, Sub Saharan African countries are cited as the most miserable places in the world to live.
No matter how hard we fought to make the world believe we are actually going on the road of prosperity with a double-digit economic growth every year, Forbes seems to ignore the numbers. From the list of 110 countries that represented 93% of the global population and 97% of the overall GDP, Ethiopia ranked at 108, which made her part of the top three sad countries in the world.
However, seriously, what is happiness for Ethiopians? Happiness is a natural human emotion, but where it comes from has to be relative, which makes it difficult for a universal definition. If I have to define it in an objective terms though, I choose, Ayn Rand’s definition who defined happiness as follows: "Happiness is not the satisfaction of whatever irrational wishes you might blindly attempt to enjoy. Happiness is a state of non-contradictory joy - a joy without penalty or guilt..."
Forbes started its listing with the definition of Charles Schulz, the creator of Peanuts, who wrote, "Happiness is a warm puppy," and John Lennon’s different take stating: "Happiness is a warm gun." The point the magazine tried to make was whether happiness is a gun or puppy people need money to buy them, time to enjoy them and warmth and security to keep them. Apparently, our country happens to be a place where all this is difficult.
Taking the definition of Ayn Rand that states happiness is a state of non-contradictory joy, the mere fact that people got the puppy or gun, or whether they are in a situation where they enjoy and keep them worry free, doesn’t seem to fit the entire definition of happiness. Ayn Rand’s definition seems to consider how people come to afford the gun or the puppy. To a certain extent, for Ethiopians, this has to be taken into consideration, especially given the fact that governance is the next ingredient for prosperity. Just like our double digit economic growth could not convince Forbes to give us a better status in its list, our anti-corruption laws and good governance propaganda with democratically elected leaders did not catch the list maker’s attention at all. Therefore, the list is telling us Ethiopia is in a place where poor governance is at its best.
Unfortunately, there seems to be several reports supporting this conclusion. The continuous illicit money outflows from the country (with double digit billions, closely similar to the country’s growth every year) and the report of Transparency International on its annual Corruption Perception Index that indicated corruption in Ethiopia is getting worse in 2011 is a clear support in favor of Forbes assertion. This actually has a direct relation with the definition of Ayn Rand, since even those who can actually afford the toys or gun have probably ill-gained them which opens a wide open door for a mind state of contradiction. In short, both who got the guns and the toys and those who could not afford them are in a state of dissatisfaction in Ethiopia. Alternatively, maybe, sticking to the strict sense of non-contradictory joy, those who could not afford anything might be in a much happier state since they have nothing to be confused.
What is important here is, when it comes to happiness, the ingredients provided by Forbes might not be as critical as the western world’s perception of them. Bad governance has a much-limited effect on the happiness of Ethiopians than Forbes people like to think. For most of our people, facing corruption and bad governance is the story of their lives. No matter who led the country, and whatever ideology is taking its turn, Ethiopians always pay bribes, seek favors from someone they know, or have the required social status to claim their rights. What makes this less ingredient of happiness is that most Ethiopians do not know any better and that they probably consider their fundamental rights as a privilege given to them because they were lucky or paid a bribe or belonged to a certain group. Therefore, the effect of bad governance on a person’s happiness is probably less important for Ethiopians. Ethiopian will probably go to church and tell god to help them out, or find a relatives who knows certain official, or may be find some money to give bribe, or give up on the matter considering he/she is undeserving. But they certainly do not go on rage and commit suicide…(continue by clicking link above)