What will the world look like in 2026? In December, Ipsos released the most recent edition of its predictions survey. Between October and November 2025, the multinational market research and consulting firm asked over 23,000 people across 30 countries for their expectations for the year ahead on a selection of topics, including world security, AI and the environment.
The results of the survey show that, while a lot of people globally feel pretty negative about 2025 (66 percent of the respondents say 2025 was a bad year for their country, and 50 percent for themselves and their family), they are much more optimistic about the year ahead: 71 percent predict 2026 will be a better year.
In India, expectations are pretty mixed. A large majority (81 percent) said they believe their compatriots will start to feel more optimistic about the long-term future, but many also predicted severe difficulties for the year ahead. 56 percent of those surveyed by Ipsos believed, for instance, that the country would face a recession in 2026 (despite recent OECD projections), while 58 percent said the country is likely to see large-scale protests or riots over governance this year.
AI appeared to be a cause for concern for Indians: 62 percent of respondents believed artificial intelligence was likely to bring about important job losses in 2026, a 3 percentage point increase from the year before. Interestingly, 57 percent also said the technology would lead to many jobs being created this year.
Many also felt pessimistic regarding security, as 55 percent of Indians believed their area would become less safe, and 53 percent expected a major terrorist attack to be carried out in the country this year.
