Adults in 36 countries around the world, including the United States, hold a bleak view of what the future holds for their children economically, with more than half expecting that kids today will be worse off than their parents amid growing income inequality, according to a new study from the Pew Research Center.
Data collected through the Pew Research Center’s Spring 2024 Global Attitudes Survey suggests that a median of 57% of adults expect children in their country to be worse off financially than their parents when they grow up.
The study is based on telephone, face-to-face and online interviews conducted under the direction of Gallup, Langer Research Associates, Social Research Centre and Verian.
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The countries that participated in the survey were the U.S., Canada, Poland, Germany, Sweden, Hungary, Netherlands, Greece, Spain, Italy, United Kingdom, France, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Australia, Japan, Israel, Tunisia, Turkey, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru and Colombia.
“In many countries, there is more economic pessimism today than before the COVID-19 pandemic — which hurt many people economically. In 15 of 31 countries where trends are available, the share of the public who thinks children will be worse off financially than their parents is higher today than in pre-pandemic surveys,” researchers note.
Just 34% of adults in the countries surveyed believe the children will be better off than their parents.
At 81%, France had the highest share of adults who say their children will be worse of economically. Italy, the U.K., and Australia followed in second place at 79%. The U.S. and Canada were listed among several high-income countries where approximately three-quarters or more of adults say children will be economically worse off than their parents.
In Europe for example, Poland and Hungary were the only countries where most adults did not expect children to be worse off than their parents.
Over half of adults in the countries surveyed pointed to the rising gap between the rich and poor as a “very big problem,” while another 30% say it is a moderately big problem. About 60% of respondents cited the influence of the rich in politics as a significant factor contributing to income inequality, which is seen as a pronounced factor among Latin American adults.
“The view that the political influence of the wealthy contributes to economic inequality, while common across most survey countries, is particularly widespread in Latin America. About seven-in-ten or more say this factor contributes a great deal in five of the six Latin American countries polled,” researchers note.
To a lesser degree, respondents also blamed other factors for rising income inequality including problems with their country’s education system (48%), people being born with more opportunities than others (40%); some people working harder than others (39%), the impact of robots and computers doing work previously done by humans (31%), and discrimination against racial or ethnic minorities (29%).
“Concerns about these issues are often tied to respondents’ demographic characteristics, background and experiences,” researchers explain.
“For example, in some nations, people with lower incomes are especially worried about economic inequality; racial and ethnic minorities are more concerned about racial and ethnic discrimination; women are more concerned about gender inequality; and people who prioritize religion are more likely to see religious discrimination as a very big problem.”
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