Nations around the world are regaining the confidence they had in the economy before the Great Recession — most notably the U.S., Germany, Japan and Russia, according to a new study by Pew Research.


Between the lines: With the exception of Russia, the majority of the respondents from nations featured above expect children today to be worse off financially than their parents. Except for Russia and South Africa, people in these nations are most likely to say the average person is worse off financially today than they were 20 years ago.
Globally, the world is reaching record levels of unhappiness, per an annual Gallup survey, with Africa particularly unhappy.
"Collectively, the world is more stressed, worried, sad and in pain today than we've ever seen it."— Gallup's managing editor, Mohamed Younis