The United Arab Emirates is the highest ranked Middle Eastern country on Nielsen’s latest consumer confidence report. According to the Global Survey of Consumer Confidence, along with Hong Kong, the UAE is seventh in this year’s index. In addition, consumers in the United Arab Emirates are also among the most optimistic ones not only in the region, but in the world.
The Nielsen Company’s study is based on responses from 29,000 online consumers and it includes nearly 60 different markets. Each of them is rated with an index of up to 124 points. Every country which receives a score higher than 100 is considered to be optimistic. Those which get less than 100 points are seen as pessimistic when it comes to consumer confidence.
The UAE and Hong Kong received 107 points each. This means that both of them are among the optimistic markets. The index was topped by Indonesia, which got the maximum points of 124. In general, the top 10 list was dominated countries from the Asia-Pacific. As a matter of fact, 8 out of the 10 top-ranked markets are located in this region. This includes also countries like the Philippines (121), India (118), Thailand (114), China (110), Hong Kong (107) and Malaysia (103). Only three of them, however, managed to score higher compared to 2012 – Indonesia, the Philippines and China. Nevertheless, consumers in the Asia-Pacific are clearly the most optimistic ones for 2013.
Apart from the UAE, the only ME country in the top ten of the ranking is Saudi Arabia. However, it does not pass the 100-points boardline and is therefore seen as one of the pessimistic countries.
Despite that, markets in Middle East and Africa have become slightly more optimistic compared to the last index. In fact, Pakistan has registered the highest rise of 11 points reaching a total score of 98. Egypt and South Africa, too, witnessed an increase of 3 points and now have 77 and 81 points, respectively. The only market in the region which saw a decline was the United Arab Emirates. The country went 1 point down.
The situation in Europe remained stable. Still, out of the 29 countries included in the index, 14 have dropped on the ranking. As a result, the bottom spots are now occupied entirely by European markets. Portugal received the lowest points – only 33. At the bottom are also Italy (41), Hungary (41), Croatia (45), Greece (47) and Spain (48).
In terms of the Americas, North America performed better, especially the US. The States have 96 points mainly thanks to rising stock market, better employment opportunities, as well as higher home prices. South America, on the other hand, registered a decline with an average of 1 point.
Here is the full ranking of the markets with the highest consumer confidence:
- Indonesia (124)
- Philippines (121)
- India (118)
- Thailand (114)
- Brazil (110)
- China (110)
- United Arab Emirates (107)
- Hong Kong (107)
- Malaysia (103)
- Saudi Arabia (100)
An interesting discovery made by the survey was that despite the growing consumer confidence in the Middle East and Africa, people continue to spend with a high discretion.
