Sick man of Europe

"Sick man of Europe" is a label given to a state located in Europe experiencing economic difficulties, social unrest or impoverishment. Although it is most famously used to refer to the Ottoman Empire whilst they were in a state of decline.

Emperor Nicholas I of the Russian Empire is considered to be the first to use the term "Sick Man" to describe the Ottoman Empire in the mid-19th century.^[2][3] The characterization existed during the "Eastern question" in diplomatic history, which also referred to the decline of the Ottoman Empire in terms of the balance of power in Europe.^[4] After the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century, the term has been applied to other states. In modern usage, the term has faced criticism due to its origins and arguable over-usage.^[2]

Throughout the 1960s to the 1980s, the term was also most notably used for the United Kingdom when it lost its superpower status as the Empire crumbled and its home islands experienced significant deindustrialization, coupled with high inflation and industrial unrest – such as the Winter of Discontent – including having to seek loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Since the mid-2010s and into the 2020s, the term being used for Britain began to see a resurgence after Brexit, a cost-of-living crisis and industrial disputes and strikes becoming more commonplace.^[5]