Only 31% of Singaporeans believe next generation will be better off than them

SINGAPORE: There has been a double-digit drop in the number of Singaporeans who believe that the next generation will be better off than the current one.

The latest Edelman Trust Barometer 2026, released on Monday (Jan 19) at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, has shown that less than a third of Singaporeans are optimistic about the future of younger folk.

Participants in the annual online survey were asked, “How do you think the state of things in your country will be for the next generation compared to how things are in your country today?”

Only 31% agreed that the next generation will be better off than this generation, while across the globe, the figure is slightly higher at 32%.

Nevertheless, Singapore is not the only country that saw a significant drop. The percentage of Indians and Chinese who believe life will be better for the next generation fell by 13%, and for Thailand, the decrease was 10%.

Countries in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa have the highest levels of optimism for the coming generation, with Saudi Arabia having the highest number, 65%. In contrast are the developed countries in Western Europe. In the bottom 10 countries where pessimism for the next generation runs high, eight are from that continent.

Italy (8%), Germany (8%), and France (6%) appear to have been particularly hard-hit with the sentiment, with optimism for the future generation in the single digits.

The survey, now in its 26th year, polled 33,938 respondents in 28 countries, including Australia, France, Italy, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, the United States, and the United Kingdom.

The survey looks into public trust in four particular sectors: government, businesses, non-government organisations, and media. It should be unsurprising that Singapore’s overall trust index is still high at 64, having dropped by only one point from last year. The average around the globe, meanwhile, is only 57.

Commenting on the Edelman Trust Barometer in the South China Morning Post, Leong Chan Hoong, senior fellow and head of the Social Cohesion Research Programme at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, said, “The uncertain economic outlook, geopolitical tensions, and simmering faultlines between some religious and ethnic communities compounded the challenge. Singapore, while remaining on positive, high-trust territory, is not immune to these global forces.” /TISG

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