LONDON (WOWO) — Young people in Sri Lanka, Kenya and Nepal report some of the highest levels of optimism about the future, while students in the United States rank 13th in a new international survey measuring attitudes toward personal futures, the economy, the environment, politics and society.

The survey by Oxford Scholastica Academy collected responses from 1,433 students and examined youth optimism across countries around the world. Responses from 41 countries were sufficient for inclusion in the published country rankings.

Sri Lanka posted the highest overall optimism score at 4.32 out of 5, followed by Kenya at 4.31 and Nepal at 4.24. The United States recorded an overall score of 3.99, placing it 13th among the 41 countries with sufficient responses. The United Kingdom ranked 33rd at 3.61.

The findings show a consistent divide between how young people view their own futures and how they view broader political and environmental conditions.

Across the survey, personal optimism was the strongest category, with young people generally expressing greater confidence in their own prospects than in political or environmental developments. Political optimism was the weakest area overall.

For U.S. students, personal optimism was particularly strong, with a score of 4.74 out of 5 — the fifth-highest personal optimism score reported in the study. Their economic optimism was 4.32, environmental optimism was 3.58 and political optimism was 3.47. The U.S. score for the future of society was 4.06.

The survey’s overall results put Sri Lankan students at the top of the 41-country comparison. Sri Lanka recorded scores of 4.75 for personal optimism, 4.38 for economic optimism, 4.62 for environmental optimism, 3.62 for political optimism and 4.25 for optimism about society.

Kenya followed closely, with an overall score of 4.31. Kenyan students recorded 4.59 for personal optimism, 4.49 for economic optimism, 4.08 for environmental optimism, 3.96 for political optimism and 4.43 for the future of society.

Kenya’s political score was the highest in the survey.

Nepal ranked third overall at 4.24. Students there gave a perfect 5.00 score for personal optimism, the only country in the survey to reach that level. Nepal also recorded the highest economic optimism score, at 4.80.

Kazakhstan ranked fourth at 4.17, followed by Cyprus at 4.09. Canada was next at 4.08, tied with Nigeria. Indonesia and Russia each posted 4.07, while Armenia rounded out the top 10 at 4.06.

Among Western countries, Canada ranked sixth, followed by the United States at 13th. Germany recorded 3.73, the United Kingdom 3.61 and France 3.22.

At the other end of the survey, Kuwait recorded the lowest overall optimism score at 2.92.

Kuwaiti students gave a political optimism score of just 1.80, the lowest political score in the study. Their score for the future of society was 2.40, tied with the lowest environmental score recorded by Kuwait.

Rwanda followed at 3.20, while Turkey and France each posted scores of about 3.22. Poland ranked next at 3.24, followed by Italy and China at 3.36, Taiwan at 3.44, the United Kingdom at 3.61 and Ghana at 3.63.

French students recorded the lowest environmental optimism score in the study, at 2.25. Poland’s political optimism score was 2.30, second-lowest behind Kuwait.

The United Kingdom’s overall score of 3.61 included a personal optimism score of 4.31 and an economic optimism score of 4.02. But British students reported considerably lower optimism about the environment, at 3.06, and politics, at 3.04.

Oxford Scholastica Academy says the results illustrate a broader pattern: students tend to feel more confident about their individual lives than about the systems and conditions surrounding them.

The Academy’s published survey material describes personal optimism as confidence in areas including education, careers, goals and relationships. Economic optimism concerns future employment and financial stability, while environmental optimism addresses the future of the planet and climate-related issues. Political optimism measures attitudes toward government, policy, global relations and political stability.

The Academy’s previously published 2025 report used a similar framework and found personal optimism to be the highest-rated dimension in 39 of 40 countries in that dataset, while political optimism was the lowest. That earlier report put the global average at 3.80 overall, with Sri Lanka at the top and Kuwait at the bottom.

Lavinia Abell, Co-Director of Oxford Scholastica Academy, said young people have plenty of reasons to feel uncertain about what lies ahead.

“In every aspect of society, there are things to be anxious and pessimistic about,” Abell said, citing issues including artificial intelligence, war and the rising cost of living.

She said those pressures can be especially significant for young people as they prepare to enter the workforce.

“What this study highlights is the attitudes of each nationality towards these uncertainties,” Abell said.

The survey also challenges a simple connection between national wealth and youth optimism. Students in several countries facing economic or political challenges reported high levels of confidence about their individual futures.

Oxford Scholastica Academy says the results suggest that optimism cannot be understood solely through measures of material comfort and that young people’s views can differ substantially depending on whether they are considering their own prospects or larger social and political conditions.

The Academy has operated educational programs for young people since 2013. It says its programs have served students from around the world and that the organization is accredited by the British Accreditation Council. The Academy also says it received a King’s Award at Buckingham Palace and has been recognized as a leading academic summer school in Europe.

The survey results should be read as the views of the students who participated rather than as a representative poll of every young person in the countries included. Oxford Scholastica’s published methodology for its related survey work notes that results for countries with limited numbers of responses are indicative rather than definitive.

Still, the central pattern is clear in the survey data: young respondents tend to express substantially more confidence in their own personal futures than in political developments, environmental conditions and the future of society.

Find the full study from Oxford Scholastica by clicking here.