European Union

Most in the world’s emerging economies rate their national economic situation as good, reflecting a much more positive outlook than in the United States or the European Union.

Just 2% of Greeks say they are satisfied with the direction of their country, the lowest level of satisfaction among the European Union countries surveyed.

In Europe, there is a crisis of confidence in the economy, in the future, in the benefits of European economic integration, in EU membership, in the euro and in the free market system. The crisis has also exposed sharp differences between some Europeans, especially the Germans and Greeks.

A report on population change in the European Union concluded that 20 nations had population gains in 2010, while seven had population decreases. Overall, the European Union population grew by 1.4 million, to 502.5 million as of January 2011.