Charting the Global Decline in Consumer Confidence

Our plans to buy new things, travel, invest, and save money, all rely on one crucial factor—our ability to pay for it.

This ability in turn is dependent on not just our current savings, but our expected income and confidence in the economy, i.e., consumer confidence.

This graphic by Gilbert Fontana uses OECD data from 2019‒2022 to chart the rise and fall of consumer confidence in nine major economies.

Global Consumers are Becoming Pessimistic

After falling down and quickly recovering during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, consumer confidence seems to be trending downwards across the globe.

The UK was hit the worst as its Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) dropped down to 92 in 2022, from 100.6 in 2021. Just behind is China, which also fell to 92 in 2022 despite sitting at 103 two years prior.

The remaining countries had CCIs between 96‒98, including France, Germany, and the U.S.

Even   with   the   most   optimistic   populations   and   a   CCI    of    98, South Korea and Australia, were below the ideal 100 mark and indicated pessimism.

The main culprits of this declining confidence in global economic markets including expectations of rising inflation—especially for food and gas—as well as high interest rates, the threats of a looming recession, and layoffs in major sectors.