Despite ongoing conflicts, uncertainty over what the next Trump era will bring and the imminent climate catastrophe, global optimism is seeing an uptick for 2025. According to the latest data from Ipsos, an average of 71 percent of respondents across 33 countries said they felt optimistic that their 2025 will be better than 2024. This is one percentage up from last year and 16 percentage points up from 2023, which had the lowest score on record since Ipsos started running the survey. Of course, a global average hides the differences between countries. For instance, when looking at national breakdown, Indonesia has a high share of people feeling positive about their coming year. Out of the 33 countries polled, it comes out on top, with 90 percent of respondents feeling more optimistic about 2025. This is down one percentage point from last year when 91 percent of respondents said they felt optimistic looking ahead. At the more cynical end of the spectrum stand France and Japan, with only 50 percent and 38 percent of their respondents, respectively, feeling more positive about next year. South Korea had a high 84 percent of people saying that 2024 was a bad year for their country. The survey was taken even before Yoon’s declaration of martial law and subsequent impeachment. Yet, hope still won out among 56 percent of Koreans who said that 2025 will be better. Optimism has faltered slightly in the United Kingdom, down three percentage points from last year, while 70 percent of U.S. respondents said they felt optimistic about the coming year (+5 p.p.). India is the country to have seen the greatest fall in optimism, losing 11 percentage points to stand at a still-positive 76 percent. This comes off the back of a year considered to be particularly bad for the country by 71 percent of Indians in 2024.
