Generational Concerns

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People in many countries are losing hope that children will be better off, according to a recent survey by the Pew Research Center in Washington, DC.
The article is by MARTA DOROSZCZYK and was published in F&D Magazine in March 2025.

Survey covered 36 countries.
A median of 57 percent of respondents say most children will be worse off than their parents.
Pessimism is especially high in advanced economies, including Canada, the United States, and many European nations.
Pessimism is shared across age and income groups: “This pessimistic view about the economic future is shared by younger and older adults alike, as well as by people with higher and lower incomes,” Pew says.

Some fast-growing developing economies in Asia show strong optimism: India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and the Philippines — at least 70 percent of respondents in these countries say children will be better off.
Germany: share who think children will be poorer increased from 42 percent in 2019 to 61 percent today.
United Kingdom: among respondents who say the gap between rich and poor is a very big problem, 88 percent think children will be worse off; among those who believe the wealth gap is not a very big problem, 66 percent think children will be worse off.

Pessimism has grown since the pandemic.
In 15 out of 31 countries with comparable pre-pandemic data, a larger share of respondents now say children will be worse off compared with surveys before COVID-19.

Pew links pessimism about children's prospects to perceptions of economic inequality.
“In most countries, people who consider the gap between the rich and the poor to be a very big problem are especially pessimistic about how children will fare financially when they grow up,” researchers said.

MARTA DOROSZCZYK, F&D Magazine, March 2025.