The World's Most Optimistic People Live in Africa

A farmer, left, accepts cash payment for his grain from a buyer in the

 village of Damo Dulele, Ethiopia, in February 2015. Growth in Ethiopia has beaten every sub-Saharan country over the past decade.  (Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg)

Emerging Nations Are Home To More Upbeat Consumers, While Advanced Economies See Dark Clouds

Sure, France has Paris, Provence and the Palace of Versailles. But when it comes to optimism about the domestic economy, the French have nothing on Ethiopians.

The three countries with the brightest prospects in the next year are all emerging or developing economies in Africa, while three with the bleakest outlooks are advanced economies, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted March 25 through May 27.

Nigeria tops the charts, with 92 percent of respondents seeing their economy improving in the next 12 months, compared with a net 5 percent who said it would stay the same or worsen. Residents in Burkina Faso and Ethiopia were similarly upbeat, with more than 80 percent of people in each country projecting economic progress.

On the other end of the scale, Poland was home to the smallest share of respondents seeing faster economic momentum in the next year, with just 16 percent holding that view. France — where almost half of those polled thought things would get worse — showed the weakest readings among advanced economies. See the best and worst here:  

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