The 10th edition of Ipsos Global Trends finds a world in search of silver linings
Only one in four people worldwide (25%) say they are optimistic about the state of the world over the next year. Just one in three (36%) is optimistic about their country. Yet 55% are optimistic about themselves and their families.
Hope has become personal.
Around the world, people retain confidence in their ability to navigate uncertainty, even as faith in institutions and the future weakens. That gap is at the heart of tenth edition of Ipsos Global Trends, one of the largest and longest-running studies on how personal attitudes and values are changing around the world. Drawing on nearly 30,000 interviews in 38 global markets, this year’s edition explores how individuals are looking for hope in their own lives as they navigate a turbulent world, and how they look to brands and institutions for support.
Yet even this more personal form of optimism is starting to erode in some markets. In the US, personal positivity has fallen by 16 points between 2024 and 2026, from 73% to 57% – and there have been similar declines in Brazil (-16) and South Africa (-11), among other markets.
Kelly Beaver, CEO of Ipsos, said:
Despite global progress on issues from extreme poverty to healthcare innovation, individuals have rarely felt less in control of the world around them. But people haven’t given up on their futures. Around the world, we see them searching for agency and meaning through communities and personal choices - a shift that will change their relationship with brands, policymakers, and one another.
The challenge is not simply to respond to today's volatility, it is to help people see a credible path through it. The search for silver linings is ultimately a search for reasons to believe that progress remains possible. In a restless decade, that belief may be one of society's most important sources of resilience.
Ipsos Global Trends 10th Edition
Access the ReportKey Findings
Healthcare becomes intentional: Mental and physical wellbeing are now almost equally important concerns: over eight in ten feel they need to do more to improve both. Advances in diagnostics, medicines and health technology are encouraging people to think of health as something that can be influenced and optimised through technology, not just monitored and measured.
Worry surpasses wonder on technology: AI remains popular overall, but enthusiasm is weakening in many of the countries and age groups critical to its adoption. With 57% agreeing that technical progress is destroying our lives, consumers are increasingly questioning whether technological progress automatically delivers social progress.
Finding hope in the self: As optimism retreats from the world to the individual, people are investing more heavily in self-improvement, status, achievement and personal agency. As nearly half say they measure their success by the things they own, across many markets traditional measures of achievement are becoming more important, not less.
“As people search for silver linings, that opens up new opportunities for brands to offer reasons and routes to be hopeful,” said Jennifer Bender, Partner, Ipsos Strategy3 and Global Head of Trends & Foresight. “People around the world are looking inward. Helping people discover, control and communicate their identities as individuals in a world otherwise beyond their control is a means to build trust, loyalty and relationships.”
The Ipsos Global Trends 10th Edition report includes a topline global summary. Ipsos clients reach out to their contacts for access to the full details of the study, as well as a report on macro forces including shifts in technology like the continued rise of AI, the economy and the global geo-political landscape.
- View a recap of the key findings from Ipsos Global Trends at the recent KEYS webinar.
