Economic Hopes Wane Among Westerners, Rise in South, East - Poll

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Economic hopes are rising in the South and East, while Westerners, on the contrary, are becoming increasingly pessimistic, the End of Year survey conducted by the Gallup International Association and the Romir research holding showed.

"The global economic downturn is likely to reign in the world for a long time. And this is fully reflected in the feelings of the inhabitants of the planet. 26% of respondents worldwide are positive about economic changes. 39% believe that next year there will be more economic difficulties. Another 29% of the respondents believe that the new year will be the same as the previous one from the economic point of view. That is, economic negativism in the world prevails, as in previous years. At the same time, pessimism is concentrating to the greatest extent in the West," the study obtained by Sputnik said.

There are almost no optimistic European countries, save for Albania and the self-proclaimed republic of Kosovo, experts said, adding that countries of the East and the Global South are the most optimistic ones.

"Saudi Arabia tops the list of optimists with an economic hope index of 78 points. In India, the index value is 0, i.e. there is an equal number of economic optimists and pessimists in the country," the poll showed.

Meanwhile, Germany is the most pessimistic Western country at -54 points, with other European countries trailing close behind, the findings revealed. The United States and Canada cannot boast optimistic results either, with -22 and -36 points respectively, the survey showed.

Russia is no exception to the pessimistic trend in the West, as 39% of Russians expect 2024 to be financially challenging. However, this year's sentiment is still better than that during the pandemic years at -41 and -44 points, the poll showed.

"The well-fed and prosperous Western world that we once imagined has long ceased to exist. New centers of economic development are shifting to the East," Romir president Andrey Milekhin told Sputnik.

The Gallup End of Year project surveyed more than 40,000 people in 40 countries around the world in October-December 2023. In Russia, the Romir research holding polled 1,500 respondents using a nationally representative sample.