Fast forward 20 years. Will today's children be better or worse off than you?

A study from Brunswick asked participants if they think children will be better or worse off financially than them at the same age. Image: REUTERS/Jason Lee
Parents want their children to live in a better world than the one they grew up in.
But today's slow-growing global economy has people across the world less certain that tomorrow's economy will provide a solid foundation for the next generation.
Brunswick, the international advisory firm, has just released their global survey of over 40,000 people from 26 countries.
The survey spans generations, geographies and measures global sentiment on an array of topics such as globalization and automation.
In order to gauge a country's optimism about the future they asked survey respondents the following question:
When today's children in your country are your age how will they be doing financially compared to where you are right now? Would you say better, worse, or about the same?
The study found that emerging markets (40% net optimism about their children’s future) were far more optimistic than developed countries (9% net pessimism about their children’s future). Here are the 14 countries from the survey that were net optimistic about the future.
14. South Africa - 1%
13. USA - 6%
12. Poland - 15%
10. Denmark - 20%
9. Finland - 22%
8. Singapore - 24%
7. Hong Kong - 32%
6. Brazil - 34%
5. Thailand - 41%
4. Indonesia -60%
3. United Arab Emirates - 63%
2. India - 73%
1. China - 74%
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John Letzing
February 13, 2025