Page 92 - GOTIL (ENG) Sample

Appendix 3

World Happiness Survey

The following article appeared in the Deccan Herald, an Indian
newspaper, on 9 December 1998
Would you believe it, Bangladesh is the happiest nation
in the world! The United States, on the other hand, is a
sad story: it ranks only forty-sixth in the World Happiness
Survey.

That’s way behind India, the fifth happiest place in the
world, and others including Ghana and Latvia, Croatia and
Estonia. Research led by London School of Economics
professors into the link between personal spending power
and the perceived quality of life has conclusively proved
that money can buy everything but happiness.

The study revealed that people in Bangladesh, one of the
poorest countries in the world, derive far more happiness
from their small incomes than, for example, the British
(32nd on the list) do from their relatively large bank
balances.

In fact, people in most rich countries including Austria,
Netherlands, Switzerland, Canada, Japan and others
are much unhappier than their poorer counterparts in
countries like the Dominican Republic and Armenia.

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