Much has been made of the increasing number of Barbadians begging to be accommodated in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom as refugees.For most citizens of this country, being a refugee connotes images of people with very few possessions, seeking to escape war, abject poverty, and misery.It was suggested that at the height of the financial crisis, the misery index for Barbados was rising, as people felt little confidence about the economic situation and other conditions on the island.The index, which became popular in the 1970s, seeks to capture the degree of economic distress felt by the average person as a result of the risks of high inflation and high unemployment.