Advertisement

Germans are 'more optimistic about 2014'

DPA/The Local
DPA/The Local - [email protected]
Germans are 'more optimistic about 2014'
Photo: DPA

Nearly three quarters of Germans are feeling optimistic about the coming year, a report released on Friday suggested. This is a significant increase on the year before.

Advertisement

P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm; }

Young people were most optimistic about 2014, with 81 percent of 14 – 34-year-olds telling think-tank Hamburg BAT that they were feeling positive about the new year.

On the whole, 72 percent of Germans said they felt optimistic about 2014, compared with 59 percent in 2013.

In western Germany, this figure stood at 74 percent of the 2,000 people asked. In the east it was slightly lower at 66 percent.

“2013 was generally seen as a positive year and so expectations for the next are rather high,” said BAT researcher and study leader Ulrich Reinhardt.

Yet when it came to politics and the economy, Germans were slightly less enthusiastic. Fifty-nine percent expected a bad year for the country financially. And 77 percent said they thought the country would lose even more faith in their politicians.

Generally, Germans seemed to be “swaying between optimism and reality,” said Reinhardt. “On one hand, they're positive about their personal future and are ready for improvements to that, but on the other hand are losing confidence in politics and the economy.”

READ MORE: Eight things that make Germans happy

More

Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.

Please log in to leave a comment.

See Also