Expectations for the future seem more positive. 45% expect that in 25 years political freedoms in their countries will increase (increase greatly or at least increase somewhat). 19% expect that they will decrease (decrease somewhat or even decrease greatly). 27% expect that political freedoms will remain the same. Economic expectations are even better – half of the world’s population is expecting that economic opportunities in their country will increase within 25 years and 23% are pessimists. About a fifth of the people surveyed expect opportunities in economy will remain the same in quarter of a century.
Personal and national income, age and education are key factors that affect attitudes in a complex manner. Gender, political stability, religious preferences and local traditions apparently play a significant role. Of course, the question of freedom is quite delicate and sometimes sufficient freedom is to be mostly declared where it is absent the most. And mass consciousness usually reacts rather automatically to all types of questions related to the authorities, expressing attitudes to them and not to the topic of the question.
This is the picture from the 75 years jubilee poll conducted by Gallup International Association (GIA) covering about two thirds of the global population (and more than 90% of those countries which are free to conduct and publish opinion research).