Asian demographics and social mood

One component that I hypothesize affects social mood (although itself it determined by social mood years before) is demographics. Generally speaking, a young population is more optimistic than an old population. Young people have a future ahead of them, while older people are set in their ways and do not like any changes, however small. This is reflected in cultural stereotypes: the old codger who believes the world is going down the tubes versus the young naive optimist. Therefore, we are likely to see that relatively young populations will have relatively positive social mood. Or to shift the arrow of causation, societies with relatively positive social mood or rising social mood will have younger demographic profiles because fertility is affected by social mood.

Asia's Time of Youth

The most striking common theme is a massive generational shift in looking at the world, one that reflects Asia's increased prosperity and self-confidence. Young Asians' expectations – material and political – are high and rising. Singapore's Poh Wei Long warns that "attitudes toward work and life may be antithetical" to older generations', and young Asians "are not keeping mum about it, at least in the blogosphere." In short, Asian living standards are rising, but expectations are shooting up even faster.