25 Complaints That People Often Have About Their Countries

Posted by , Updated on March 24, 2024

We’re guessing you have a few grievances regarding your nation. After all, no place is flawless. Despite multitudes of indexes demonstrating which nations excel in particular areas, individuals never cease to express their discontents. Indeed, even the Swiss aren’t exempt from this. So brace yourself to feel slightly less dissatisfied with your place of residence. Here are 25 common criticisms that individuals frequently voice about their countries!

25

New Zealand

planeSource: quora

It’s really expensive to go almost anywhere else in the world. Although flight prices tend to fluctuate seasonally and yearly, New Zealand’s isolation doesn’t lend itself well to international travel.

Note: Within Europe and the US it is possible to reach numerous other countries for far less than 1000 USD. In New Zealand, that will get you to…Australia.

24

Bangladesh

crowdSource: quora

The population density is unreal. Imagine cramming 160 million into the state of Georgia!

23

Greece

taxSource: quora

Tax evasion is almost seen as patriotic in some parts (apparently this dates back to the days of the Ottoman Empire)

22

Azerbaijan

azerbaijanSource: quora

Nepotism. This is basically the practice of hiring people from your own family or circle of friends rather than those who are most qualified. (note: people throughout the Caucuses would lament over this)

21

Romania

briberySource: quora

In spite of having joined the EU, corruption is almost taken for granted here. According to the Corruption Perceptions Index conducted by Transparency International, Romania ranked as the 4th most corrupt nation in the European Union. There has even been a very popular political witch hunt within the country in recent years. The National Corruption Directorate indicted over 1,000 politicians, judges and businesspeople in 2014 alone.

Note: the corruption takes many forms including bribery, embezzlement, money laundering, bullying, official misconduct, abuse of power, tax evasion, and falsification of documents – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_corruption_scandals_in_Romania

 

20

Germany

remoteSource: quora

TV, it’s almost a running joke in Germany that the public broadcasting is just horrible.

19

Ireland

irelandSource: quora

Unionists vs. Nationalists. Although The Troubles are over, the conflict is still there.

18

South Africa

crime sceneSource: quora

The violent crime, kidnapping, and corruption. It’s just too much and has led to lots of emigration.

17

Philippines

internetSource: quora

Extreeeeeeeeeeeemlyyyyyyyy slooooowwwww interneeeeeeeet

16

Zimbabwe

moneySource: quora

The insane inflation. When the last Zimbabwean dollar was discontinued in 2009, the government offered to exchange $5 USD to anybody who had up to $175,000,000,000,000,000 Zimbabwean dollars in their bank account. If you had more than that, you would get $1 USD for each $35,000,000,000,000,000 Zimbabwean dollars in your possession. 

Note: those numbers are “quadrillions”

15

Canada

canadaSource: quora

Paying more attention to the US than our own domestic issues…we have problems too! (note: putting the US down seems to be a convenient way of distracting from domestic issues in many countries, not just Canada)

14

Australia

Sydney Opera House at nightSource: quora

Shipping anything is ridiculously expensive

 

13

Singapore

singaporeSource: quora

Restrictions on the press. Like many other nations in the world, there are plenty of things wrong here and the city isn’t really as clean as it is made out to be. But press can’t report on the issues.

12

South Korea

south koreaSource: quora

The politics, it doesn’t change. For some reason we just can’t decide whether we hate Japan or North Korea more and it seems to oscillate between the two.

11

India

indiaSource: quora

We take care of our houses, but our ability to make a mess of any and every public space is unparalleled.

10

USA

republicans and democratsSource: quora

The commercialization and polarization of politics. It’s more of a sports show these days.

9

Mexico

cartels and soldiersSource: quora

Cartels. They control everything from the media and the schools to the military and the government

8

Malaysia

malaysiaSource: quora

The extreme racism against Chinese and Indians

7

UK

rainSource: quora

The weather. It’s every bit as bad as they say

6

North Korea

jailSource: quora

No complaints at all. Everything is completely perfect.

Note: we feel like this should be self-explanatory, but just to clarify…people in North Korea can’t complain, for obvious reasons.

5

El Salvador

gunSource: quora

It seems like every other year we become the country with the most homicides in the world

4

Sweden

swedenSource: quora

The Law of Jante. It’s basically that individual successes are viewed negatively (tall poppy syndrome for all you British out there)

3

Portugal

football/soccerSource: quora

Nobody cares about politics, just football

 

2

Russia

kremlinSource: quora

People idolizing corrupt politicians.

1

Norway

northern lightsSource: quora

We spend half of our life in darkness



1. Claudia Regina via Flickr CC 2.0, 2. Pavel Kazachkov via commons.wikimedia.org cc 2.0, 3. Public Domain, 4. tsalproject via Flickr cc 2.0, 5. Public Domain, 6. Public Domain, 7. public domain, 8. naim fadil via commons..wikimedia.org CC 2.0, 9. ComputerJA via en.wikipedia.org cc 3.0, 10. DonkeyHotey via Flickr CC 2.0, 11. © Jorge Royan / http://www.royan.com.ar / CC BY-SA 3.0, 12. Public Domain, 13. Someformofhuman via Commons.wikimedia.org cc 3.0, 14. Taras Vyshnya Via Shutterstock, 15. Public Domain, 16. Public Domain, 17. Rock1997 via commons.wikimedia.org CC 4.0, 18. [puamelia] via Flickr CC 2.0, 19. Sitomon via Common.wikimedia.org CC 2.0, 20. espensorvik via Flickr CC 2.0, 21. Public Domain, 22. Public Domain, 23. Chris Tolworthy via Fickr CC 2.0, 24. Public Domain, 25. Public Domain