French pessimism rules the world

FRANCE has the highest level of pessimism in the world according to a new global attitudes survey - and Britain is not far behind.

When given the question ‘When children today grow up will the be worse off/better off financially than their parents?’, 85% of French people respondents replied ‘worse off’.

The pessimistic response is highest among most developed nations which on average record 64% for ‘worse off’, compared to 27% for better off. (A voluntary category for ‘the same’ was not included in the figures).

The British rank as slightly more pessimistic than average with 68%, but France’s figure puts it clearly in the lead, well ahead of second-place Japan at 72%.

France’s score prompted the Nouvel Observateur to comment: “If economic success depends on the mentality of a country, this is definitely bad news.”

The figures come from the Pew Research Centre’s Spring 2015 Global Attitudes Survey.

It found that optimism is strongest in emerging (26% pessimistic vs 51% optimistic) and developing nations (38% pessimistic vs 54% optimistic).

The Vietnamese are the world’s most optimistic nation, with just 7% believing their children will be worse off compared to 91% who believe they will be better off.

Photo:Flickr/Ramón Ivanovich Lopez