Washington: Enthusiasm for free markets runs higher in communist China and Vietnam than in traditional capitalist bastions the United States and United Kingdom, the Pew Research Centre reports.
A world-topping 95 per cent of Vietnamese say that most people are better off in free-market economies, and 76 per cent of Chinese agree, according to a Pew survey of nearly 49,000 people worldwide that might have astonished Ho Chi Minh and Mao Zedong.
70 per cent of Americans and 65 per cent of those in the UK expressed support for a free-market economic system.
Expanded world trade has ignited fast economic growth in emerging economies such as China and Vietnam, lifting tens of millions out of poverty.
Meanwhile, the advanced economies of the United States and Europe have contended in recent years with sluggish growth, high unemployment and stagnant wages.
Those distinct experiences appear to have shaped attitudes toward free markets and the future: 65 per cent of those in advanced economies said they expected children in their countries to be worse off than their parents.
In low- and middle-income countries, by contrast, at least half the respondents expected their children to be better off. Optimism was highest in Vietnam, where 94 per cent saw good times ahead for their children. In China, 85 per cent felt the same way.
But just 30 per cent of Americans, 23 per cent of British, 15 per cent of Italians, 14 per cent of Japanese and 13 per cent of French predicted a brighter future for today's children.
Worldwide, 60 per cent said the income gap between rich and poor is a "very big" problem in their countries. But a lack of jobs was seen as an even bigger problem.
Overall, 66 per cent of those around the world say people are better off under capitalism even if it leaves some rich and some poor.
"People are willing to accept a certain level of inequality to have free markets," says Katie Simmons, senior researcher at Pew.
Concern about inequality was highest in Greece and Lebanon 84 per cent in both countries saw it as a major problem and lowest in Japan (28 per cent).
Despite ranking behind Chinese and Vietnamese in enthusiasm for free markets, Americans still hold fast to the belief that individuals are responsible for their own fate.
In the United States, 57 per cent (exceeded only by Venezuela's 62 per cent) rejected the idea that "success in life is determined by forces outside our control." Americans were also more likely (73 per cent) than people anywhere else to say working hard was very important to getting ahead in life.
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