Gallup Survey for the World Economic Forum
May 2005

Gallup survey for the World Economic Forum conducted in advance of a conference in Jordan at the end of the week asked the following question: Will 2005 be better than 2004? It turns out that residents of the Middle East are slightly more optimistic than the rest of the world. 48% of residents of the Middle East believe that this year will be better than last, compared with 46% of respondents worldwide. The exception was Egypt, where a plurality of respondents - 39% - said this year would be worse than last year. 63% of Israelis said 2005 would be better than 2004, 28% said there would be no change, and 16% thought that this year would be worse.