China, Vietnam, India believe in capitalism more than U.S.: Pew survey
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) The United States may be the poster child for capitalism, but people living in China, India and Vietnam are bigger believers in the free market than Americans.
Pew Research surveyed people living in 44 different countries this spring. They asked a simple question: Do you agree with the following statement: “Most people are better off in a free market economy, even though some people are rich and some are poor.”
Worldwide, two-thirds of those surveyed agreed, giving capitalism a thumbs up.
But the results get more interesting at the country level. In the U.S., 70% agreed that the free market is the way to go. Compare that to China (76% agree), India (72%) and South Korea (78%).
Vietnam dwarfed everyone though, with a whopping 95% in favor of capitalism.
The results are somewhat surprising for China given that the communist government has presided over a decade of incredible economic growth of over 7% a year.
“We’ve seen widespread support [in China] for the free market since 2002 when we began asking this question there,” says Katie Simmons, a senior researcher at Pew. “They’ve consistently been one of the highest countries.”
