How optimistic are Filipino youth about the future?

MANILA, Philippines – Filipino youth are generally optimistic about the future as it ranked fourth among emerging markets in the Asia-Pacific region in the MasterCard Youth Confidence Index.

The Philippines scored a 78.5 index score with 100 as most optimistic and 50 as neutral.

Myanmar ranked first with an overall index score of 92.4, while youth in India and Indonesia were also frontrunners in optimism with scores of 84 and 82.5, respectively.

MasterCard said progress in Myanmar showed in the “consistently positive attitudes” of its youth towards the economy, employment and regular income prospects.

Young people in developed markets showed lower levels of confidence with Taiwan (42.2) and Japan (48.6) trailing the region.

The MasterCard Youth Confidence Index is a new initiative by MasterCard that measures the short-term outlook and confidence levels among youth within the 18 to 30-year-old bracket in the Asia-Pacific region.

Respondents of the study were asked about their six-month outlook on employment prospects, economy, regular income, and present versus anticipated quality of life in 5 years.

When the respondents were asked if their life situation in 5 years would be better than today, emerging markets were most optimistic with Myanmar’s youth (92.9) once again taking the lead, followed by the Philippines (85.6), China (84.5) and Thailand (80.3).

“This new index by MasterCard is a good barometer for where today’s youth stand in terms of confidence levels regarding a variety of economic factors. It is encouraging to see strong scores reflecting optimistic attitudes towards the coming six months, especially with regard to employment and regular income prospects which no doubt have a significant impact on the potential of the youth consumer market as well,” said Pierre Burret, region head of MasterCard Advisors in the Asia/Pacific.

“With elections expected in numerous countries in the region this year, it will also be interesting to see if this optimism holds up and continues through to the end of 2014,” he added.

A separate MasterCard survey of people over 30, meanwhile, showed less confidence levels.

MasterCard said that while the overall confidence score for the MasterCard Youth Index across all Asia-Pacific markets was 67.8, the MasterCard Consumer Confidence Index for the older segment was only 61.5. –ABS-CBNnews.com