76 Pct of Japanese Pessimistic about Children’s Future: U.S. Survey

September 19, 2018

Washington- In Japan, 76 pct of people are pessimistic about the future of children in financial terms, despite an improvement in the country's economic outlook, a U.S. survey revealed Tuesday.

Among 27 countries surveyed, Japan came second in the pessimism rankings after France, where 80 pct of respondents offered the view that children will be worse off than their parents whey they grow up, the survey by the Pew Research Center showed.

The share of respondents in Japan who hold rosy views about children's future stood at 15 pct, the lowest reading along with that of those in France.

The gloomy results contrast with other findings in the survey that public sentiment on the economy in Japan, France and the other countries surveyed "drastically improved" during a decade after the global financial crisis triggered by the collapse of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers in 2008.

From the 2009 survey, the proportion of respondents who think the current economic situation is good rose by 34 percentage points to 44 pct in Japan and by 29 points to 43 pct in France. Germany marked the largest gain of 50 points, at 78 pct, while the figure jumped 48 points to 65 pct in the United States, the epicenter of the crisis.

Besides Japan and France, however, pessimism about the future of children is persistent even in advanced economies, with 72 pct of respondents predicting worse financial conditions in Spain, 70 pct in Britain and 69 pct in Greece.

Such people's share came to 57 pct in the United States, also topping the 56 pct median for the 18 surveyed advanced countries, according to the survey. Jiji Press