Written by Paige Tamasi
It is officially two weeks into 2025, and the new year is here. Humanity is a quarter of the way through the 21st century. We have completed two new generations and begun another (Generation Z 1995-2009, Generation Alpha 2010-2024, and Generation Beta 2025-2039). The question that led up to the first of January and the first couple weeks of this new year is “Will 2025 be a good year?”
To answer this question let’s turn to statistics. The Ipsos Predictions Survey 2025 covers 33 countries and focuses on global expectations for the new year. Ipsos talks about how in retrospect around 65% of people say that 2024 was a bad year, making 2024 one of the best years since 2019. 2025 has some big shoes to fill!
Thankfully, people are looking optimistic. Over 70% say that 2025 will be a good year, and more than half of people surveyed said they believe the global economy will improve. The optimism also extends to personal lives, with many people hoping for mental and physical improvements in 2025 (69% for each).
However, the optimism isn’t international. Ipsos says that many Europeans report pessimism regarding potential global economic improvement. But the Europeans seem to be in the minority with 51% of people saying the global economy will improve. People don’t seem to have high hopes for inflation, unemployment, interest rates, or prices. Similarly, there has been a 3% drop in people who believe governments will pass strong laws, programs, and bills to help combat climate change. Japan feels pessimistic at 38%, reporting the lowest percentage of hope out of all countries surveyed (the only country with a statistic below 50%).
Technology has always been at the forefront of people’s minds, especially with court cases about privacy, AI, copyright, and monopolies. The Ipsos survey says that people are a mixed bag concerning future technology. Starting strong with Artificial Intelligence (AI), 65% of people think AI will cause more job loss in their country. But, and this is either negative or positive depending on your opinion, robots will be more human-passing in 2025; at least, according to 48% of adults surveyed. People also are scared of their data being doxxed, with 57% saying they believe their data will be leaked in 2025. In the same trend, less than half of the people surveyed said their government would introduce strict rules for large technology companies.
More than 70% of people say global temperatures will increase, leading to more extreme weather events. Unfortunately, the massive wildfires in LA, California, proved this. On the plus side, around 52% of people say their government will provide stronger targets to combat climate change in the upcoming year.
Of course, these statistics vary depending on which country was surveyed. For example, Indonesia (90%) is much more optimistic than France (38%).
So what do you think? Will 2025 be a good year as people hope it will be? Or will it fall into pessimism and end up a bad year?
To read the last article Paige Tamasi wrote go here!
Written by Paige Tamasi. Edited by Paige Tamasi. Photography by Gary Lee. Published by Paige Tamasi.