Half of Europeans think future generations will be worse off

Just a quarter ( 24%) thought future generations would be better off, and around the same proportion ( 23%) thought they would enjoy the same standard of living.

On the whole, men were more optimistic than women: 29% of men felt that future generations would be better off, while only 18% of women felt the same. Eastern Europeans were the most optimistic (one in three thought future generations would be better off) and Southern Europeans the least (just one in five shared this view). 

Findings were based on a census representative sample of 12,000 Europeans across 28 countries. Fieldwork took place in December 2015.