Koreans Believe Kids Will Be Worse off Than Their Parents

Six out of 10 Koreans believe that the next generation will be financially worse off than their parents, a poll suggests. This is the most pessimistic forecast since the annual poll began in 2013.

The poll by the Pew Research Center was conducted in 17 countries from February to May this year.

Asked "how they think children will fare when they grow up," 60 percent of 1,006 Korean respondents said children will be financially worse off than their parents.

In the same poll eight years ago, the figure was only 37 percent.

Korea is not the only country where pessimism is growing. Only in two countries -- Singapore (61 percent) and Sweden (50 percent) -- were respondents more optimistic for their children's future.

Among Americans, pessimists make up a whopping 68 percent.

But despite the coronavirus pandemic, the proportion of pessimists in the U.K., Sweden, Australia and the Netherlands has dropped.