MOSCOW (Sputnik) – An average 55 percent of respondents across 40 countries reported a less-than-favorable economic climate in their respective countries, versus an average of 43.6 percent that held a more positive view.
Most notably, only 40 percent of the people answering questions in the 11 advanced countries surveyed, including the United States, Israel and Japan, perceived their economies as operating in the black.
Of them, Germans, followed by Canadians and Australians, were the most confident at 75, 57 and 55 percent each, describing good economic conditions. South Korea, France and Italy rounded out the bottom three, with 83, 85 and 88 evaluating their economies in the negative.
The Pew survey was conducted this spring among sample sizes ranging from 1,000 to over 3,500 either face-to-face or by phone.
The survey claimed that two-fifths of emerging and over half of developing economies expected their countries’ performance to pick up over the next year, while two-fifths of advanced economies expected no change.
The International Monetary Fund’s latest World Economic Outlook projected a 3.5-percent rise in gross domestic product this year.
