Optimism triumphs in Jordan despite adverse conditions — survey

AMMAN — A YouGov survey has shown that 70 per cent of Jordanians are generally optimistic about the future in spite of economic and developmental challenges.

Commissioned by Expo 2020 Dubai, and conducted by YouGov, the world’s first Global Optimism Outlook Survey included 20,000 participants from 20 countries, with 4,000 respondents from five Middle Eastern countries, namely: Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

The respondents were surveyed on issues related to the future, including sustainability, economic advancement, technology, travel and climate change.

The results showed that 84 per cent of Jordanians believe in the ability for technological advances and innovation to build communities, while Jordanians' belief in the ability of these factors to connect people was measured at 79 per cent.

About half of the Jordanian respondents (47 per cent) said that they are optimistic about the future of sustainability through their country's endeavours to provide alternative energy resources, with some 69 per cent looking forward to using clean energy in transportation and sustainable infrastructure by 2050, according to the Jordan News Agency, Petra.

The findings also revealed that developing countries were more optimistic about building a sustainable future than Western countries, with 55 per cent optimistic about this prospect in Jordan, 70 per cent in the UAE, 65 per cent in Saudi Arabia, 78 per cent in Indonesia and 72 per cent in Nigeria, while only 43 per cent in the UK, 45 per cent in France and Germany alike and 51 per cent in the US share the view.

The Middle East’s hopes to combat climate change were above the global average, with about two-thirds of the respondents (64 per cent) optimistic about humanity’s ability to save the planet, while the percentage hit some 56 per cent among the Jordanian public.