Happiness is a state of the mind but it could also be dependent on where you live – if you go by what economists say happiness (and misery) really is. A misery index measures inflation and unemployment to gauge how happy or sad people are. The assumption is that “misery tends to flow from high inflation, steep borrowing costs and unemployment,” said Steve Hankes, a renowned economist who revised Art Okun’s original misery index.
You don’t necessarily have to accept such a measure for happiness to agree that when jobs are available, and the price of good and services is not rising too fast, people are content.
In this article Businessday provides a simple misery index (based on the latest unemployment and inflation data as of Thursday, 19 December 2019) to rank states (excluding Abuja) and show where happiness is (or really isn’t) in Nigeria, which ranks 85 out of 156 countries on the 2019 World Happiness Index.
Happiest States
Osun State (21.96)
Having the least unemployment rate in Nigeria where national unemployment is at an all-time high helps Osun state rank as the least miserable (or happiest) state in the country.
Osun, which is an inland south-west state, has an unemployment rate of 10.07 percent and an inflation rate of 11.89 percent.
The state’s economy is largely based on agriculture, and in 2018 Osun had an Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of N2,206 per head according to Budgit while it also ranks 13th out of 37 states (plus FCT) on Human Development Index based on the National Human Development Report 2018.
As at half-year 2019, Osun had an IGR of N10.205bn, the 18th highest for states without counting Abuja, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data shows.
Read also: ‘Nigeria drifting into state of anarchy – Alaafin of Oyo, Danjuma, Adebanjo cry out
Oyo State (22.19)
Oyo state has Ibadan, West Africa’s biggest city by territory, and also has the second-lowest score on the misery index by states-which is a good thing.
The state which thrives mainly on agriculture and handicrafts has an unemployment rate of 10.34 percent, which is the second-least rate among states in Nigeria. Its inflation reading in November was 11.85 percent which brings its ‘misery’ score to 22.19 percent.
Oyo last year had an IGR per head of N3,142 per head and ranks 23rd on states human development index.
The state’s IGR as of June 2019 was N14.06bn, the 13th highest among states in the country.
Katsina State (24.95)
Katsina is the state with the thirdlowest inflation rate and fourth-least unemployment rate, both facts which make the North Central state the third happiest state.
Farming is the major activity in Katsina where IGR per head at N889 was the lowest in the country last year. The state also ranks second from the bottom of the list that ranks Nigerian states by human development.
At half-year, Katsina had generated N4.8bn internally which makes it better than only five other states on that measure.
Ondo State (25.78)
The unemployment rate in Ondo in the third lowest in Nigeria and its inflation rate is the 10th lowest too-both at 14.24 percent and 11.54 percent respectively.
Ondo is Nigeria’s lead cocoa-producing state and its IGR per head in 2018 at N5,306 was the eighth highest.
From a human development perspective Ondo rank 17th of 37 states (plus FCT) and as of June 2019, it has the eighth-highest IGR-N19BN.
Lagos State (26.75)
Nigeria’s commercial capital and fifth biggest economy in Africa, Lagos is the fifth happiest state.
Lagos has the 16th highest inflation rate in the country based on November figure of 12.02 percent but its unemployment rate of 14.55 percent is the fifth-lowest in Nigeria.
Though at fifth spot, Lagos comes first in a lot of other instances; the state had the highest IGR per of N30,451 in 2018 and as of half-year 2019 it has an IGR of N205.16bn which not only is the highest for any state but also more than the combined sum of the other five states that rank next.
Lagos ranks number one in terms of human capital development in Nigeria. Not-so-happy States
Akwa Ibom State(49.22)
Having the ninth-lowest inflation rate is nothing if a state has the worst unemployment rate in the country-akwa Ibom’s misery index score which is the highest shows why.
Akwa Ibom is Nigeria’s most miserable state-as it was in our June misery index.
Rivers State (48.99)
Being oil-rich is no guarantee of happiness. With the sixth-highest inflation rate and the second-worst unemployment record Rivers is the second most miserable state in Nigeria.
Kano State (44.61)
The nerve centre of northern Nigeria is the third least happy place in Nigeria because of a high rate of inflation and unemployment.
Inflation is 13.36 percent which is the fifth-highest in Nigeria while unemployment is 31.25 percent, the sixth-highest.
Abia State (44.06)
It doesn’t take much to drop two notches lower and rank fourth most miserable state in the space of about six months. Abia has the 14th highest inflation rate (12.45%) and the fourth-highest unemployment rate (31.61%).
Bayelsa State (43.89)
Bayelsa is another oil-rich state that ends up fifth least happy state because of high unemployment (the third highest in Nigeria at 32.56%) while its infla tion at 11.33 percent is the eighth lowest in Nigeria.
Bayelsa’s ranking worsened by one spot from our ranking in June where it was the fourth miserable state.
