• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, September 27, 2011

According to a new report by Ipsos titled "Ipsos Global @dvisory: The Economic Pulse of the World," the citizens' assessment of the current state of their country's economy for a total global perspective, looks "as if the world took a step backwards by five months."

The global aggregate national economic sentiment dropped two points this month to 38%. The downward movement comes directly after a period of relative consistency for the global average. This measure takes us back to March 2011 and is on par with January 2010, says the report. 

All three metrics measured monthly: assessments of their current national economy (-2 points to 38%), current local economy (-2 pts to 29%) and future outlook (-1 pt to 24%), reflect this drop. And, the future outlook is in a continuous downward trend: from 31% positive outlook in March 2010 to 24% now.

While Europe continues to weigh down the global average, though its downward movement in this wave is only one point across the board. It's the Middle East and Africa as a region that shows the greatest downward shifts

• Down 3 pts to 58% on national economy assessment
• Down 6 pts to 43% local economy
• Down 6 pts to 33% in the assessment of the future of the local economy

The latest survey reports a five-point drop for Americans across all three measures (14% national, 17% local, 17% future of local). But right next door, says the report, Canada is buoyant at 73% on the national economy, second highest in the world.

Results from Greece and Ireland in the study show that Greece is the lowest-ranked country on all three measures, with only 4% saying that the current economic situation in their country is "good", 5% agree that the local economy is "strong" and only 3% agree the six-month outlook for the local economy is going to be "stronger".

Ireland ranks low on the list as well; fifth-last on ratings of the national economy (7%), fourth-last on local economy (8%) and eighth-last on the local economy's future outlook (11%).

The Asia-Pacific region has traditionally been a top performer on economic assessments, with citizens reporting in at levels considerably higher than the global average. The region, though, has been showing consistent downward momentum on all three measures since October of 2010 and now reports confidence sentiment on par with that of the global average ratings. 

Asia-Pacific Region (APAC) Performance (2011 vs. 2010)
	October 2010		August 2011		Change (in % points)
	APAC	Global	APAC	Global	APAC	Global
National Economic Assessment	53%	42%	39%	38%	-14	-4
Local Economic Assessment	38%	30%	28%	29%	-10	-1
Six Month Outlook On Local Economy	31%	28%	24%	24%	-7	-4
Source: The Economic Pulse, September 2011

The average global National Economic Assessment of national economies surveyed in 24 countries is down two points since the last sounding with 38% now reporting current economic conditions in their country are "good". This measure takes us back to March 2011 and is on par with January 2010.

The world's winning and losing teams are comprised of the same players month after month, even despite the economic turmoil shaking things up at the time of fielding:

• Saudi Arabia is once again showing the strongest (88%) rating of its national economic assessment, followed by Canada (73%, up 1 point from the previous month), and Sweden (70%, down 7 pts). India rebounded from the previous month (69%, up 7 pts), with Germany (66%, down 5 pts) rounding out the top 5.
• Hungary and Greece are tied for last place at 4% (Hungary down two pts). Spain (6%, unchanged) is close behind, shadowed by Japan (6%, down 2 pts), Ireland (7%) and Italy (8%, down 2 pts).
• The United States rating (14%) slips even further down this wave (down 5 pts), echoing the troubling economic situation in the country

The global average of Local Economic Assessment (29%) among the 24 countries is down one point from last month. Only three in ten (29%) global citizens agree the state of the current economy in their local area is "good:"

• Saudi Arabia (69%) increased its leadership by three points from the last sounding to remain the leader of the local economic assessment rating. Sweden (57%) is the distant second, followed by Canada (51%), India (49%), and Brazil (46%). At the bottom of the rating are Greece (5%), Japan (5%), Ireland (7%), Spain (8%) and Hungary (9%).
• Countries experiencing the biggest improvement in their ratings from the previous month are India (up 7 pts to 49%), France (up 4 pts to 18%), Brazil (up 3 pts to 46%), and Saudi Arabia (up 3 pts to 69%)
• Citizens of Turkey (32%) express a dramatic 14-point drop in the local economic assessment rating, followed by South Africa (down 7 pts to 27%) and a five-point worsening each in South Korea (16%), the United States (17%), Belgium (19%) and Indonesia (24%).

According to citizen assessments on the extent to which they think their local economy will be "stronger", "weaker" or "about the same" six months from now, a global average of one quarter (24%) believe it will be stronger.

• Brazil appears to be the most upbeat with seven out of ten (71%) indicating that the local economy will be stronger over next 6 months. Saudi Arabia (64%) holds a more distant second place, followed by Argentina (52%), India (52%), and Mexico (36%). France (+1 to 4%) remains at the bottom of the rating, tied with Greece (3%); Belgium (- 4 to 6%), Japan (-3 to 7%), and Hungary (-2 to 8%) languishing as well.
• Turkey (-13 to 25%) shows the largest decline in their future local economy confidence, while India (+9 to 52%) reports the largest increase this month over last.

The full report is free of charge and may be downloaded through this summary.

The results of the survey are from an international sample of 18,607 adults aged 18-64 in the US and Canada, and age 16-64 in all other countries, including Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Great Britain, Germany, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and the United States of America.