A decade after a rapid subprime mortgage crisis in the US morphed into a government debt crisis in Europe and then into a global economic downturn, a majority of citizens in 27 developed countries now consider that better days for the economy have returned, but worry that this won’t continue for much longer.
According to a Pew study in 27 countries, 48 percent of respondents in 18 countries say current economic conditions are good, but only 34 percent believe their children will experience even better conditions. Overall, two-thirds of more than 30,000 respondents believe the current state of the global economy is positive, but only 33 percent a better future lies ahead for the next generation.
By stark comparison, only 4 percent of respondents in the same study from Greece says current economic conditions are positive, and 18 percent forecast a better economic future for their children.
A whopping 87 percent of respondents in Greece said they yearn for the pre-crisis era (before 2009), the highest such percentage of the 27 countries surveyed. Second place was held by respondents in Tunisia, 75 percent, followed by Italy, 72 percent.
