South Africans have shown the greatest improvement, with 42% of respondents saying that the outlook of our economy is "good". This is up from 32% at the last reading. Mexico on the other hand, showed the greatest decline in from 30% rating their economy as "good" to 24%.
A major analysis of world public opinion was released today by Ipsos - one of the world's largest market and opinion research companies. The report, titled "Ipsos Global @dvisory: The Economic Pulse of the World" is based on 18,768 recent interviews in 24 countries around the world. The report examines citizens' assessment of current state of their country's economy for a total global perspective.
National Economic ratings at a Glance:
The most positive nation is currently Saudi Arabia with 86% of respondents rating their economic situation as "good", followed by Sweden (72%), Australia (70%), Germany (70%), Canada (65%) and India (65%). Those who rated their economy the worst included Hungary - with a mere 2% rating their economy as "good", then Spain (4%), Italy (5%), France (6%), Japan (8%) and Great Britain (13%).
Looking to the future
Respondents were asked to look ahead 6 months and state whether they expected the economy in their local area to be stronger or weaker than what it currently is. Saudi Arabia is again the most positive with 69% stating that their economy will be stronger in the future. South Africans display less confidence with only 26% saying that our economy will be stronger. Spain displays the least optimism about the future of their economy with only 6% believing the economy will improve.
Six-month Outlook:
Looking at the BRICS region, Brazil, China and India all feature on the higher end of the rating - 50%, 52% and 47% respectively believing that the economy will improve. South Africa and Russia are on the opposite end of the spectrum and display the lowest confidence in the BRICs cluster. Only 21% Russian respondents believe that the economy will improve.
Europe's results confirm that Germany will emerge as an "engine" for growth and German respondents, along with those from Sweden, displayed high levels of confidence in their economy (45% and 89% respectively). "The economically challenged Greece is not included in the study and Spain (6%), Hungary (8%) and Italy (10%) display Europe's lowest confidence levels in their national economies.".
Percentage of respondents who say that their local economy will be stronger in the next 6 months
The full report is free of charge and may be downloaded at www.ipsosglobaladvisor.com
