Kia ora and welcome to year 2023! I wish peace and happiness to everyone on earth!
We have had a two weeks break for the year end holiday and have had a good rest along with the year celebration (Christmas and New Year parties).
Global survey finds U.S. public glad to leave 2022 behind, but many are concerned about inflation, unemployment, and natural disasters; majority of Americans optimistic about 2023?
Following a very challenging couple of years in 2020 and 2021, many people around the world feel 2022 has been a little better. Two in three Americans (64%) are hopeful that 2023 will be a better year than 2022. However, there is some lingering concerns about a wide array of issues, stretching from rising prices to unemployment to natural disasters.
t a global level, signs of improvement are not apparent in all areas of life, however. About half of the 17 questions where we have trend data since 2021, particularly those focused on what 2023 will be like, show a significantly more pessimistic view of what next year will bring. Much of this negativity surrounds the economic situation, but it extends beyond the economy to encompass climate-related disasters, the use of nuclear weapons, and even asteroid impacts and visits from aliens.
The Economy in 2023
Overall, there is much more pessimism about the global economy than at this time last year. Only 46% on average across all 36 countries believe that the global economy will be stronger next year, compared to 61% who did so last year and 54% in 2020. People in Belgium are the most pessimistic about the economy with as few as 27% expecting to see improvements, while those in China and the UAE, where 78% and 76% respectively anticipate better times, are the most optimistic. In the U.S., about two in five (42%) expect the global economy to be stronger in the new year, down from 54% saying the same at this time last year.
The reasons for this pessimism are clear. Large majorities globally expect increases in the cost of living (79% expect prices to rise, 75% expect to see higher inflation rates), levels of unemployment (68%), and interest rates (74%). Proportions of Americans with the same expectations are in line with the global averages.
Even more worryingly, nearly half globally (46%) think it likely that their country will need to be bailed out with emergency funding from the International Monetary Fund, with those in South Africa (78%) and Argentina (70%) being particularly worried about this possibility.
Around half both globally (50%) and in the U.S. (47%) think it is likely that major stock markets around the world will crash – significantly more than did a year ago (+15 points globally, +10 in the U.S.
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