Poll: Pinoys 5th most optimistic globally

Prior to the terrorist siege of Marawi City last May, the Philippines was ranked the fifth most optimistic among nationalities in the world, a survey of global consumer sentiment showed. 

Pew Research Center’s Spring 2017 Global Attitudes Survey among Asian-Pacific nations, Indians and Filipinos are the most positive about their economic conditions. The South Koreans are the most downbeat.

These are among the key findings of the new survey conducted among 34,788 respondents in 32 countries from Feb. 16 to April 28.

Results for the survey were based on telephone and face-to-face interviews conducted under the direction of D3 Systems, Inc., ORB International, Princeton Survey Research Associates International, Kantar Public UK and Voices! Research & Consultancy.

Pew Research said the survey showed roughly eight-in-ten in India, or 83 percent and the Philippines, 78 percent, say the state of their economy is good.

Notably, 30 percent of Indians believe their economy is very good, the strongest such sentiment among any country in the survey.

It added that since 2015, Filipino positive assessment of their economy has improved 15 points.

Australia has not experienced a recession for a quarter-century which made Australians upbeat about their economic conditions with 60 percent saying the situation in their country is good.

Japan, by comparison, has struggled with slow growth for more than two decades and is only now showing some signs of recovery. Roughly four-in-ten Japanese (41%) believe their economic situation is good, but that is up 11 points from 2016.

South Koreans are troubled by their economy: Only 15 percent think it is going well, while 84 percent voice the view that economic conditions are bad.

Among the Asian-Pacific nations surveyed, two very distinct views about the youngest generation’s financial future emerged.

Majorities of Indians, Filipinos and Indonesians believe that when today’s children grow up they will be better off than their parents but majorities of South Koreans, Australians and Japanese think today’s kids will be worse off.

In India, the public is particularly upbeat: 76 percent see a bright future for Indian children. Roughly six-in-ten in the Philippines (61 percent) and Indonesia (58 percent) agree.

Filipinos aged 30 to 49 (65 percent) are more optimistic than their older compatriots.

In sharp contrast, roughly seven-in-ten Japanese (72 percent) and Australians (69 percent) believe children in their country will be worse off financially than their parents when they grow up. Japanese and South Korean women are particularly worried about their kids’ financial future.

Nearly a decade after the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, economic spirits are reviving, the survey showed.

Many Europeans, Japanese and Americans feel better today about their economies than they did before the financial crisis.

More broadly, in 11 of 18 countries from across the globe that were surveyed in both 2016 and 2017, publics feel more positive about their economy than they did a year ago. The Dutch, Germans, Swedes and Indians see their national economies in the most positive light.

“While global publics are increasingly upbeat about economic conditions, the overall view of the economy is still in negative territory in many countries. Overall, a median of only 46 percent in the 32 nations surveyed this year say their current economy is doing well,” the survey showed.

At the same time, many are concerned about the future with a median of just 41 percent believing that a child in their country today will grow up to be better off financially than their parents. The most pessimistic about prospects for the next generation are the French, Japanese and Greeks.

Across five large European economies, Japan, and the United States, public assessment of national economic conditions is now more positive than it was in 2007, immediately before the global financial crisis.

Nearly six-in-ten Americans (58 percnt) believe the economic situation in the U.S. is good.

The U.S. economy has experienced roughly 80 months of job growth and the unemployment rate was only 4.9 percent in 2016.

In the spring of 2009, when the jobless rate was 9.3 percent, just 17 percent thought economic conditions were good. In 2007, before the economic downturn, half said conditions were favorable.

In France, Germany, Italy, Poland and the United Kingdom, a median of 51 percent now give their economy a positive grade.

This comes in the wake of an average 1.7 percent growth in 2016 in the five European Union countries and an unemployment rate of 7.4 percent. The public’s view of the economy is up from a low of 15 percent across the five EU nations in 2013, when their economies grew at an annual average of only 0.6 percent and joblessness stood at nine percent.

In 2007, a median of 36 percent in those countries said their economic situation was good.

In Japan, 41 percent now voice the view that their economy is doing well. The Japanese economy grew by 0.8 percent in 2016, with unemployment at 3.1 percent.

In 2012, despite economic growth at 1.7 percent, only seven percent held the view that their economy was good – possibly because the unemployed accounted for 4.4 percent of the labor force.

In 2007, before the financial crisis, 28 percent of Japanese said economic conditions were good.

Advanced economies more upbeat than emerging markets, developing countries, the survey showed.

The modest but sustained economic recoveries in Australia, Canada, Europe, Japan and the U.S. since the 2007-2008 financial crisis have finally buoyed public spirits about economic conditions in those countries.

A median of 51 percent in the 17 advanced economies surveyed believes that their current economic situation is good, 45 percent think it’s bad.

Strong upbeat sentiment in northern Europe in particular offsets quite downbeat views in southern Europe and South Korea.

Emerging market and developing economies have slowed in recent years, especially in key nations in Africa and Latin America, and public opinion in those societies reflects that slowdown.

Only 45 percent in the 15 emerging and developing markets surveyed voice the view that current economic conditions in their nation are good, 54 percent believe they are bad. Positive views in India and the Philippines are offset by very negative sentiment in Venezuela and Brazil.

Publics in advanced economies are quite pessimistic about young people’s financial prospects, just 34 percent believe they will be better off than the current generation. Such despair is particularly strong in Greece, Japan, France, Australia, Canada, Spain and the UK, where roughly seven-in-ten people say today’s children will be worse off.

The recent rise in satisfaction with current economic conditions seems to have had an impact on optimism about the future in Poland in particular. The share of Poles who think the economy is doing well has gone up 26 percentage points since 2015, and the proportion that believes the future will be better for the country’s children has risen 14 points. LUIS LEONCIO