Is Zimbabwe the worst country to live in?

Haiti or Tajikistan for sure. Both are miserable.

Kyrgyzstan is pretty bad too.

i'm to understand sierra leone is no picnic

How are they worse than Zimbabwe?

canada probably

I realize that there are many elements that determine a country's livability, and that there is no definitive way to declare one country the absolute worst. Interested in discussing it anyway.

what country has the worst bagels?

the ones where white rolls with a hole in them are passed off as bagels

ahh, so zimbabwe. i vote zimbabwe then.

i think that zimbabwe has probably passed somalia in the "worst shithole on the earth" contest.

burma, judging by rambo 4 and the recent weather!

the ones where white rolls with a hole in them are passed off as bagels

-- electricsound, Tuesday, June 3, 2008 11:14 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Link

california?

mission to zimbabwe ...

zimbabwe kitty ...

zimbabwe-shave

how's Chad doing?

If you're considering short-term contrast, Zim would have to be the worst. 15 years ago it was Africa's flagship, and even a few years ago it was worrying but still relatively well-off. This would be the hardest thing to experience.

north korea is not a nice place to live

Swaziland seems to be a contender as far as poverty and quality of life.

its got to be a place w/an all out war going on - theres not really anything worse

wait, wtf @ krgyzstan

a friend of mine has been there within the last five years and i heard no reports of god-awfulness. you would seriously put it up against zimbabwe or n. korea???

I have a very good friend from Zimbabwe, who is basically the most amazing person ever. Her family was pretty well-off, as these things go, but they finally gave up and moved to Iran.

It's kind of heartening that many of the countries that experienced truly horrible periods in the '90s and early '00s are beginning to turn things around a bit. Places like Liberia, D.R. of Congo, Rwanda, Chad, Sierra Leone, Somalia are all still grappling with political instability, ethnic tensions, desperate poverty, disease, etc., but the general trend is toward peace and economic recovery. I suppose it's easy to make progress when the starting point is so low, but it's still progress.

Zimbabwe is remarkable for it's movement in the opposite direction though. Sad.

Sudan is probably worse than Zimbabwe - well, it is if you live in the Darfur region.

Poll this.

No, everyone knows it's England. Deasn't anyone read the newspapers?

How is Congo doing these days? That was looking pretty desperate a few years ago. Zimbabwe does seem like it's the one most likely to get worse, but are we all so rockist that no one is going to say Iraq?

I suppose it's pretty relative. Congo has definitely had it's moments (ridiculous understatement) but I know someone there who confirms the official line that (at the very least) there is more stability, basic services, you can do business without having to pay soldiers/rebel troops and there is some effective government. So compared to say even a couple of years ago, things are looking up! Still some fighting though.

I ran into a few references to Somalia as the "ultimate failed state" in the past couple of days and it really made me intrigued - no central government since 1991, warring militias and civil war, total lawlessness, and a haven for pirates among other things. Would utter lawlessness be better or worse than a seriously oppressive central government?

Zimbabwe still has a Test cricket team. Not even the United States can claim to that, hey?

What is so bad about Tajikistan? A friend of mine just came back from there and had no serious horror stories. Admittedly she was lawyering out there so may not have come across anything truly horrendous but still...

26 countries rank below Zimbabwe if you use the UN's Human Development Index. Had no idea Tanzania ranked below Nigeria.

Zimbabwe also has a 90% adult literacy rate, one of the highest in Africa. So that's something.

I'm surprised by Tanzania being below Nigeria. I've always heard it is a bit weak on economic indicators, but does a lot better on touchy feely indicators, while Nigeria is straightforwardly rubbish.

You guys, it's clear: We need an ILX index to go by.

A Somalian friend of mine who traveled around Eastern and Southern Africa said that of the countries he visited, Mozambique was the most poor and depressing. He amusingly described South Africa as "just like America, with freeways and McDonalds everywhere".

niger is generally at or near the bottom of most indices, though there doesn't seem to be a hot war going on there at the moment.

yellowcake, though, eh?

I'm a bit curious why India would place 29 spots lower than Sri Lanka.

On which one?

HDI

The whole thing about wars being OMG bad in countries is maybe exaggerated... if you already have half the country dying of HIV you wouldn't notice a few more going in a war. And if your HIV death rates are low but have a little war going on, it would still make you better off than somewhere like Swaziland.

the HDI doesn't even bother to list Somalia

I think we must now spend all our time looking at the HDI rankings saying "wow, I was surprised by X being higher/lower than Y".

I am surprised that a relatively functional country like Ethiopia (albeit one with an authoritarian regime and a lot of people who might soon starve to death) is much much lower down that a Lolcountry like Equatorial Guinea.

OK, that HDI thing is a farce, there is no way Ireland is the fifth best country in the world, though I am willing to accept that we are better than suckass countries like the UK.

NIgeria has a lot of oil money and a good bit of remittance flowing in from nationals abroad, so that might explain a higher rating.

has anyone really figured out how this HDI thing is determined? I can't be bothered.

The Quality-of-life Index lists Ireland as number one, but on inspection some of it's criteria are completely insane.

*its

Hah, Australia third. Rightio.

US and British diplomats in Harare just massively hassled by police there, we await full-blown INCIDENT. Is Mugabe still UN-ing?

Expelled, I think.

He tends to rock up to everything anyway, despite hating everyone.

banquirit, I'm totally not surprised about that - I just don't know how informed he really is or if he was just in his "whites be criticizing an African government again, so I'll defend it" (knowing we tend to believe him because he's from nearby) mode

what IS going on with his jackets, btw?

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44783000/jpg/_44783579_mugabe.jpg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auFBqn5OfMI

lol love how the british labour leader morphs into a giant vadge and back again

nope, he's always a cunt*

*do you se what i did there

^^I SEE.
Hahaha excellent.

Photojournalist Flees Country Following Assault By Police, Confiscation of His Property

http://allafrica.com/stories/200808090153.html

Where did the power-sharing talks come from? Mugabe cheats again, Tsvangirai pulls out, Mugabe 'wins', the suddenly they're agreeing to share power?! WHAT HAPPENED??

This fucking guy.

what'd he do now?

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iy7XWjxGgoYgfrH5HleAciLslSwg

President Robert Mugabe declared Friday that "Zimbabwe is mine" and vowed never to surrender to calls to step down, as his political rival threatened to quit stalled unity government talks.

Addressing his ZANU-PF party's annual conference amid a ruinous political crisis and a deadly cholera epidemic , Mugabe returned to the kind of defiance he has often shown in the face of mounting criticism.

"I will never, never, never, never surrender. Zimbabwe is mine, I am a Zimbabwean. Zimbabwe for Zimbabweans. Zimbabwe never for the British, Britain for the British," Mugabe told his party's annual conference.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/zimbabwe/3850646/Zimbabwe-cholera-victims-die-of-thirst-as-bodies-pile-up.html

I'd give the nod to Somalia as the objectively worst contry to live in.

Lowest ranking countries by 2005 Human Development Index

Somalia 0.221 (last ranked in 1993)
Afghanistan 0.229 (last ranked in 1993)
Liberia 0.311 (last ranked in 1993)
Sierra Leone 0.336
Burkina Faso 0.370
Niger 0.374
Guinea-Bissau 0.374
Mali 0.380
Central African Republic 0.384
Mozambique 0.384
Chad 0.388
Ethiopia 0.406
Democratic Republic of the Congo[4] 0.411
Burundi 0.413
Côte d'Ivoire 0.432
Zambia 0.434
Benin 0.437
Malawi 0.437
Angola 0.446
Rwanda 0.452
Guinea 0.456
Tanzania 0.467
Nigeria 0.470
Eritrea 0.483
Senegal 0.499
Gambia 0.502
Uganda 0.505
Yemen 0.508
Togo 0.512
Zimbabwe 0.513
East Timor 0.514
Kiribati 0.515
Djibouti 0.516
Kenya 0.521
Sudan 0.526
Haiti 0.529

HDI is a joke, we covered this. It takes into account how many people go to church, for example.

"I don't know why America's getting so excited over electing a black president. Zimbabwe elected one years ago and he's a fucking twat."

lol

is that a Viz letter?

yeah

had all the hallmarks.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7929136.stm

Hmmmm.

That was my reaction too.

a lorry? subtle, subtle stuff

interesting thread

Moldova deserves an honorable mention on this thread.

^^^^^this appears to have been an actual accident. hit by a truck carrying U.S. supplied antiretroviral AIDS medication. There must be irony here.

Are You Ashamed of Where You Live? [Started by MarkH in September 2001, last updated 11 minutes ago by Super Cub on I Love Everything] 62 new answers
Is Zimbabwe the worst country to live in? [Started by roxymuzak in June 2008, last updated 16 minutes ago by Super Cub on I Love Everything] 6 new answers

this is what I get for posting on a saturday

Blimey:

Josiah Tongogara, the revered Zanu guerrilla fighter who led the liberation war and had sharp differences with Mugabe about the direction that the country should take after 1980, died in a mysterious car accident on the eve of independence while travelling to Harare from Mozambique.

Among notable political figures to have died in suspicious crashes was Sydney Malunga, the Zanu-PF parliamentarian and celebrated critic of Mugabe, whose death in 1994 was blamed on his "driver trying to avoid a black dog" that had veered into the road.

Malunga's death preceded that of Chris Ushewokunze, the prominent industry and commerce minister, who was killed in a car crash in 1995.

Others who died in road accidents included Zanu-PF politicians Moven Mahachi, Border Gezi, Witness Rukarwa, William Ndangana, Elliot Manyika, Ntandazo Ngwenya and Zororo Duri. Many suspected they had been done away with because of bitter intra-party feuding.

Activist Christopher Giwa also had a suspicious crash and businessman Peter Pamire's car rolled in 1997 after widespread allegations that he was conducting an affair with Mugabe's young second wife, Grace.

Winston Changara, Mugabe's long-time bodyguard, also died in a crash after allegations that he was leaking information about the private activities of the First Lady.

http://www.capeargus.co.za/?fArticleId=4877990

Tsvangirai says crash an accident

Referring to his late wife, he said: "It was an accident and unfortunately it took her life."

Yup. "Unfortunate" definitely the right word to describe your wife's death. Spose he's just a "bigger picture" guy, right?

yeah what a dick huh

I mean, are you really calling out a dude for not fully expressing his grief over his wife's death in a public statement?

xposts. You are a douche.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7984293.stm

God, what a shit year he's having.

is it me or is this place stealthily cleaning up its act

n.b. I have no idea whether this is the case at ALL but the country's been eerily quiet for ages, makes me think things might be going better

solid reasoning

lol

they've been having some time out from the world, just thinking bout things

tsvangirai has been rehabilitated and mugabe's allowed him to co-own a women's american football franchise

some wite ppl who had their shit stolen have been rly chill abt it

it's all good basically

there was some stuff in the wikileaks the emphasized that it's difficult to see how the situation could change, which sounds about right. basically it's how it was when it was last news, LJ.

http://www.news24.com/Africa/Zimbabwe/Mugabe-condemns-gay-filth-20110414

Harare - Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe on Thursday condemned gay "filth" in Europe, as he lambasted Western powers for maintaining their asset freeze and travel ban on him and his inner circle.

"We don't worry ourselves about the goings-on in Europe," he told thousands at the burial of deputy intelligence chief Menard Muzariri, who died on Monday.

"About the unnatural things happening there, where they turn man-to-man and woman-to-woman. We say, well, it's their country. If they want to call their country British Gaydom, it's up to them. That's not our culture. We condemn that filth.

"We get alarmed when these countries have the audacity to schedule us as an item to discuss in their parliament."

BRITISH GAYDOM

February 22, 2010(Reuters) - China said on Monday its embassy in Zimbabwe had thrown a birthday party for President Robert Mugabe, a rare sign of foreign support for a leader reviled by many Zimbabweans and criticized by the United States and Europe.

Mugabe celebrated his 86th birthday on Sunday and made time to attend a party held in his honor at the Chinese embassy in Harare, China's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

china hearts bob

http://www.news24.com/Africa/Zimbabwe/Zim-man-claims-prostitute-turned-to-donkey-20111026

Harare - A Zimbabwean man has told a court that he hired a prostitute who during the night transformed into a donkey, and that he is now "seriously in love" with the animal, state media said on Wednesday.

"I think I am also a donkey. I do not know what happened when I left the bar, but I am seriously in love with (the) donkey," Sunday Moyo told the court, according to The Herald newspaper.

What was he drinking?

the pride of my collection

http://i.minus.com/ibaI303O3bL3aO.JPG

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/06/24/postcards_from_hell_2014_fragile_states

zimbabwe only #11 this year