Click on a region to see why the residents don't have reason to celebrate. Click the Interactive icon for more on places that think 2,000 years is nothing to brag about, and a slideshow on a Holiday in Hell. Their lives were bleak, their futures grim, and an apocalypse may have seemed like a good idea. For many, the feeling today is much the same.
Life is still hellish in many parts of the world.
Angola The prospect of getting blown to bits by an assailant who left the scene days, months or even years ago is not a pleasant one, but it's one faced daily by many of the people of Angola. Decades of civil war have left the country littered with land mines and, as the fighting continues, more mines are being laid, according to Liz Bernstein, coordinator for the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. That means common areas such as water holes and places where firewood is gathered can be mined. In the province of Moxico alone, at least 52 people were killed by 133 land-mine explosions in the area this year. Other areas facing land mine problems include Afghanistan, Kosovo, Chechnya, Mozambique, Namibia and Botswana, Bernstein said.