Despite being cast as avocado-toast-loving, travel-obsessed stereotypes who are also bad savers, millennials around the world have a significantly positive outlook on life, according to a new report.
A Pew Research Center report published on Tuesday determined eight countries in which young adults between the age of 18 and 29 were significantly more positive on life in modern day than their older counterparts.
These countries include the United Kingdom, Australia, Sweden, the United States, South Africa, Ghana, Peru and Germany.
Senior researcher Jacob Poushter tells CNBC Make It that he based his conclusion after asking a sample of nearly 43,000 people in 38 countries how much they agreed with the statement, “Life in our country today is better than it was 50 years ago for people like me.”
The report found that on a global scale, people are generally divided on whether life today is better than it was in the past.
But more important than age, people’s level of education and their views on the economy were the strongest predictors of whether they felt life today is better, according to Poushter.
In about more than half the countries he surveyed, most prominently in places like Poland, Peru, the Netherlands and Spain, people with higher levels of education were more likely to say that life is currently better than 50 years, Poushter noted.
He also pointed out that a person’s income level and views on the state of the economy play a large role in one’s opinion on modern day life.
“Those who say that the economic situation in their country is good are much more likely to say that life in their country is better for people like them now compared to half a century ago,” Poushter said.
On the contrary, three countries in which the millennials are actually less optimistic about life in the modern as compared to 50 years ago were Venezuela, Senegal and South Korea.
“Technology use is changing quickly, people are more likely to use the internet and more likely to own smartphone in many of these places,” Poushter said, citing a few of those rapid changes. “The economy is another change, there was a global recession in 2009 and there are indications from own research that the economy is bouncing back in many countries.”
Poushter said his goal with this report was to measure how rapid societal changes in countries around the world have affected people’s opinions about their own part in their country. He added this research may be useful for those in higher education.
“People who are in college, graduating from college or looking for a job should be aware of how education and the economy play into this difference of opinion between young adults and older generations,” Poushter said.
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