Pew survey finds widespread dissatisfaction with economic performance

In this photo taken Sunday, Nov. 4, 2012, a man uses a cash dispenser to withdraw money as homeless men sleep inside a bank in Barcelona, Spain. In a survey out Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2014, the Pew Research Center found that 93 percent of Spaniards said their country’s economy is performing poorly. (AP / Emilio Morenatti)

WASHINGTON -- The Great Recession officially ended more than five years ago. Yet the feeling of many people around the world can be summarized in one word: Gloom.

In a survey of 48,643 people in 44 countries out Tuesday, the Pew Research Center found that 60 per cent say their own country's economy is performing poorly.

Dissatisfaction runs highest in the world's most advanced economies, where 64 per cent say conditions are bad. In the United States, 58 per cent give the American economy poor marks.

The deepest despair was recorded in countries hit hardest by the European debt crisis: 97 per cent of Greeks, 96 per cent of Italians and 93 per cent of Spaniards said their economies were performing poorly. Unemployment rates are extraordinarily high in all three: 27 per cent in Greece, 13 per cent in Italy, 25 per cent in Spain.

There are exceptions to the pervasive gloom: 89 per cent of Chinese are positive about their country's economy, even though it's slowed markedly from the double-digit growth of a few years ago. In Vietnam, 87 per cent of respondents gave the economy high marks. In Germany, 85 per cent did.

In the countries that Pew characterizes as "emerging economies," 59 per cent said conditions were unsatisfactory. Only in low-income "developing economies" did a majority (51 per cent) call economic conditions "good."

Brazil has seen the steepest drop in economic confidence: Just 32 per cent of Brazilians were positive about their economy, down from 59 per cent in 2013.

Perceptions are improving in the United Kingdom: Last year, just 15 per cent said the U.K. economy was in good shape. This year, the figure had jumped to 43 per cent.

Eighty per cent of Chinese said their economy would be stronger in a year, making them the world's most optimistic people. Just 15 per cent of Japanese expected an improved economy next year, the lowest among the countries surveyed.

People in advanced economies ranked high levels of government debt as their biggest economic problem, followed by rising prices, a lack of jobs and the income gap between the rich and poor.

People in middle-income countries saw rising prices as their biggest problem. Those in low-income countries regarded a weak job market as their No. 1 problem.