ENGLISH, the 11th form (Nersysian M. A., Pirozhenko A. O.) (Unit 5, Exercise 2, p. 130)

Read the text and decide if the statements following are true (Т) or false (F).

The World Happiness Report measures “subjective well-being” – how happy people are, and why. According to the survey Norway is the happiest place on Earth, Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland, and Finland round out the top five, while the Central African Republic came in last. The World Happiness Report was released to coincide with the United Nations’ International Day of Happiness on 20 March. It mainly relies on asking a simple, subjective question of more than 1,000 people every year in each of more than 150 countries.

“Imagine a ladder, with steps numbered from 0 at the bottom to 10 at the top,” the question asks. “The top of the ladder represents the best possible life for you and the bottom of the ladder represents the worst possible life for you. On which step of the ladder would you say you personally feel you stand at this time?” The average result is the country’s score – ranging from Norway’s 7.54 to the Central African Republic’s 2.69. But the report also tries to analyze statistics to explain why one country is happier than another.  It looks at factors including economic strength, social support, life expectancy, freedom of choice, generosity and perceived corruption.

The report also suggests that professional “white collar” jobs are associated with improved happiness over “blue collar” roles – but that having a job at all is one of the biggest factors. And while “those in well-paying jobs are happier and more satisfied with their lives”, that effect has diminishing returns – “an extra $100 of salary is worth much more to someone at the lower end of the income distribution than someone already earning much more.”

1) The World Happiness Report was released in spring.

The survey was mainly based on handing out questionnaire.

About 1000 countries were involved in the survey.

“White collars” are happier than “blue collars” according to the report.

According to the report working makes people unhappy.