Young people are optimistic about what future holds

Two out of three British youngsters aged 15 to 25 expect 2012 to become a better year than the previous one.

And less than one in ten have a pessimistic view on the coming year and think that maybe last year was better after all.

This makes British ‘millennials’ among the more optimistic in the world, according to a large-scale youth survey involving more than 4,000 respondents in 16 countries.

The results in the USA are comparable with the UK results. About 67 per cent of the youngsters there believe in a better 2012 but the most positive opinions were discovered in Brazil (81 per cent), Russia (79 per cent) and China (76 per cent).

In the UK 49 per cent of youngsters think they have a better life than their parents but again countries such as China (71 per cent), Brazil (69) and India (62) produced higher scores.

More than a third of British youngsters say they are willing to work equally hard as their parents, but an equally large group does not want to do so.

Other key findings include:

> Barely anyone aims at becoming a known politician

> But youngsters want to be more involved in politics with recession, global warming and third world top priorities

> The media and travel sector are the most popular employers. Fast food, alcohol and tobacco industry and government are the least popular

> Half the youth want to be self-employed but one out of 10 want to stay with their current employer for life

> A quarter of youngsters are dissatisfied with spending power - and want more money to spend on clothing, housing and going out.