Czech Republic Named Most Decadent Country

A Bloomberg study finds the country fittingly Bohemian

Dave Park

Written by Dave Park Published on 29.07.2015 09:58:03 (updated on 29.07.2015) Reading time: 1 minute

Is the Czech Republic the most decadent country in the world?

That might depend on how you define “decadence”.

A survey of 57 countries by Bloomberg measures decadence using five factors: annual alcohol consumption, cigarette consumption, cannabis use, amphetamine use, and net gambling losses as a percentage of GDP.

Now, drinking, smoking, using drugs and gambling aren’t exactly what come to my mind when I think of decadence, which I’d associate with the kind of moral and literal decay found at the Bouvier Beale estate in Grey Gardens

But they do represent something, and the Czech Republic leads that something by a wide margin, even though they only rank first in one category. 

The country ranks fourth in alcohol consumption, ninth in cigarette consumption, twelfth in gambling losses, sixth in amphetamine use, and first in cannabis use. 

In total, Bloomberg gives the Czech Republic an aggregate score of 64.5 – almost six points higher than second-place Slovenia, and the widest margin in the study.

Here are Bloomberg’s top ten Most Decadent Countries:

1. Czech Republic
2. Slovenia
3. Australia
4. Armenia
5. Bulgaria
6. Spain
7. Bosnia and Herzegovina
8. Russia
9. Belarus
10. Greece

The US and UK rank 16th and 17th, respectively.

Least decadent countries? Zambia, El Salvador, Bolivia, Guatemala, and Venezuela round up the bottom of the list. 

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