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If you’re planning on working or starting a business abroad in any of the countries included in a new economic study by the research giant Ipsos, read on as the Global Economic Outlook is Mixed. It may help you get a better sense of what the real economic situation is through the eyes of those who live in the country.
Ipsos asked over 18,000 people in 24 countries to assess how good both their national and local economies are, as well as project how good they think their national economies would be six months from now.
First, only 36 percent of all surveyed said their national economy was in good shape, but the numbers looked even worse for local economies. Only 27 percent of those surveyed thought their local economy was good. Things looked even worse for the future. Less than one quarter (23 percent) of all respondents expected their local economy would be stronger in six months.
Let’s run the numbers on the countries that score highest on the national economic assessment measure. Oil-rich Saudi Arabia was number one with 84 percent of the people surveyed in that country saying that the national economy was good. Sweden was a strong second (76 percent) and Germany followed in third place with 69 percent. Other countries above 50 percent were Canada, Australia and India.
On the flip side, the lowest national economic assessment number was Spain’s 4 percent, followed closely by Italy (5 percent) and France (6 percent). Other countries with poor national economic assessments were Hungary and South Korea.
Locally, the same countries fared the best and worst, although rankings changed a bit and the numbers were lower, reflecting differences between regions in the country. In Saudi Arabia, 58 percent thought their local economy was good. Sweden was the only other country where more than half thought their local economy was doing well.
Economic news doesn’t get much better at the local level in bottom-dwelling Spain and Italy. Both were below 10 percent and Japan and France were not far behind.
Will things get better? Folks in Brazil (60 percent) thought so, followed by Saudi Arabia, India and China. The French (a dismal 4 percent) don’t think so and Belgium, Hungary and Sweden seemed to agree.