Despite ongoing conflicts and threats from AI, global optimism is seeing an uptick for 2025.

Statista's Anna Fleck reports that, according to the latest data from Ipsos, a global average of 71 percent of respondents say they feel optimistic that their 2025 will be better than 2024. This is one percentage up from last year and 16 percentage points up from 2023, which was the lowest score on record since Ipsos started running the survey.

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Of course, a global average hides the differences between countries.

For instance, when looking at an international breakdown, Indonesia has a high share of people feeling positive about their coming year.

Out of the 33 countries polled, it comes out on top, with 90 percent of respondents feeling more optimistic about 2025. This is down one percentage point from last year when 91 percent of respondents said they felt optimistic looking ahead.

At the more cynical end of the spectrum stand France and Japan, with only 50 percent and 38 percent of their respondents, respectively, feeling more positive about next year.

South Korea had a high 84 percent of people saying that 2024 was a bad year for their country in the survey taken even before Yoon’s declaration of martial law and subsequent impeachment. Yet, hope still won out among 56 percent of Koreans who said that 2025 will be better.

Optimism has faltered slightly in the United Kingdom, down three percentage points from last year. The U.S. saw an increase of 5 percentage points, bringing it to 70 percent of respondents feeling optimistic while India is the country to have seen the greatest change in sentiments across all of the countries polled, losing 11 points to stand at a still-positive 76 percent.

This comes off the back of a year considered to be particularly bad for the country by 71 percent of Indians in 2024.