These are the most optimistic countries in the world

Optimism in 2017 isn't a word that is banded around too often.

Political upsets like Brexit and the 2016 Presidential Election has left global politics in a very uncertain state.

Terrorism, racism and a decline in living standards in western countries leave you with a strong sense of pessimism about the future.

Is that the case around the rest of the world, though?

Analytics and advice firm Galluphave recently been compiling data from around the globe which analyses how optimistic people are about the future of their country.

How much a country is 'thriving' is assessed on a scale of 0 - 10. Participants in the analysis were asked to judge their current lives as well as their future lives in the present climate.

These ratings will determine whether they believe they are personally thriving or not.

Anyone rating their current life as a seven or above and their future life as eight or above are described as having a strong well-being, are consistent and are progressing.

How does this translate to countries around the world? The following is a map from Gallup that shows how countries thriving sensibilities have increased or declined in the past 10 years.

Via: Gallup

The post-2007 global recession brought about a massive slump in optimism for many countries.

10 years later, things have started to improve but people's general attitudes towards the thriving mentality are yet to return to 2007 levels.

Countries found to have the biggest decrease in this period include Greece, Spain, Egypt, Singapore, Belgium, India, New Zealand and the United States.

Picture: Gallup

On the flip side, countries from all over the world have noticed a sharp increase in their optimism.

Of the countries that Gallup spoke to for their survey at least 21 believed that their country was now the same, if not better than it was in 2007.

Interestingly Germany were the only major world leaders on the list, which was mostly dominated by developing nations in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Picture: Gallup

As we've already mentioned, the air of optimism around the globe isn't what it used to be, mainly due to a string of unprecedented events.

Yet, most of these events have only occurred in the past few years.

Therefore, Gallup did a separate poll, asking people to assess their lives from 2014 to 2017.

Picture: Gallup

Perhaps the most noticeable decline here is that which occurred in Brazil.

Gallup's stats show thatin 2014, 60 per cent of Brazilians believed their country was thriving.

Recent economic and political crises in the South American nation has seen that opinion drop by 16 points to 44 percent.

Other nations reporting a downturn in optimism in the last three years were Turkmenistan, Sierra Leone, India, Jordan and Malawi.

Picture: Gallup

Once again, at the opposite end of the spectrum it was developing countries in Africa and Asia that were the most optimistic.

Intriguingly, the relatively new nation of Kosovo, who only declared independence from Serbia in 2008 came out on top.

This proves that despite recent memories of their troubled past, there are much brighter things for Kosovans to look forward to.

Other European nations included Hungary, Mongolia and Austria.

Picture: Gallup

Approximately 1000 adults in 115 countries, aged 15 and older took part in the survey. over the course of the last 12 months.

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