Germans among world's happiest people about economic situation
A new global poll shows that after the Dutch, the Germans are the most positive about their current economic conditions - but they're also quite pessimistic about the future.
The survey released by Pew Research Center on Monday found that 86 percent of Germans said they would describe their country’s current economic situation as “good”, putting Germany only behind the Netherlands in the worldwide comparison, where 87 percent of Dutch respondents said the same.
Sweden came next at 84 percent, followed by India at 83 percent positive.
SEE ALSO: These are the German regions where the economy is really booming
Pew surveyed nearly 35,000 people from 32 different countries. The global median was just 46 percent of people who were happy with their nation’s economy, compared to 52 percent who described the conditions as “bad”.
The least happy were the Greeks with 98 percent of respondents calling their country's economy bad.
Germans’ attitude towards their own economy has been improving over recent years, according to the results, with positivity increasing by 11 percent between 2016 and 2017.
Looking to the next generations though, Germans overall were quite pessimistic about the future. When asked about whether children today would grow up to be better offer financially than their parents, 36 percent said this would not happen.
Still, young people were much more optimistic about the future than older Germans. More than half (53 percent) said they were confident that kids would be more successful than their parents. Just 29 percent of 30- to 49-year-olds, and 34 percent of those over 50, said the same.
SEE ALSO: Here's where Germany's happiest people live
Germany - along with the Netherlands and Sweden - also stood out from the rest of Europe in terms of positivity. The median level of happiness with the current economic situation on the continent was 47 percent, compared to 51 percent who said their country’s conditions were bad.
The report connected this to the 2008 financial crisis, which hit countries like Spain, Italy and Greece much harder than Germany, and thus their countries are still recovering. Spain, for example, had a seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in April of 17.8 percent, compared to 3.9 percent in Germany, according to Eurostat. Just 28 percent of Spaniards in the Pew poll called their economic situation good.
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The survey released by Pew Research Center on Monday found that 86 percent of Germans said they would describe their country’s current economic situation as “good”, putting Germany only behind the Netherlands in the worldwide comparison, where 87 percent of Dutch respondents said the same.
Sweden came next at 84 percent, followed by India at 83 percent positive.
SEE ALSO: These are the German regions where the economy is really booming
Pew surveyed nearly 35,000 people from 32 different countries. The global median was just 46 percent of people who were happy with their nation’s economy, compared to 52 percent who described the conditions as “bad”.
The least happy were the Greeks with 98 percent of respondents calling their country's economy bad.
Germans’ attitude towards their own economy has been improving over recent years, according to the results, with positivity increasing by 11 percent between 2016 and 2017.
Looking to the next generations though, Germans overall were quite pessimistic about the future. When asked about whether children today would grow up to be better offer financially than their parents, 36 percent said this would not happen.
Still, young people were much more optimistic about the future than older Germans. More than half (53 percent) said they were confident that kids would be more successful than their parents. Just 29 percent of 30- to 49-year-olds, and 34 percent of those over 50, said the same.
SEE ALSO: Here's where Germany's happiest people live
Germany - along with the Netherlands and Sweden - also stood out from the rest of Europe in terms of positivity. The median level of happiness with the current economic situation on the continent was 47 percent, compared to 51 percent who said their country’s conditions were bad.
The report connected this to the 2008 financial crisis, which hit countries like Spain, Italy and Greece much harder than Germany, and thus their countries are still recovering. Spain, for example, had a seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in April of 17.8 percent, compared to 3.9 percent in Germany, according to Eurostat. Just 28 percent of Spaniards in the Pew poll called their economic situation good.
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