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New York, Jan 19. (PTI): In a survey that should make leaders sit up, people across the world say they have little faith in their ability to make positive change in the current global environment and question the ability of political leadership to effectively wield its power.

More than 55,000 respondents in 60 countries with a total of 1.5 billion people told interviewers that their leaders are incapable of improving the state of the world. But business leaders came out somewhat better than their political counterparts whom four in ten or 43 per cent respondents considered dishonest.

In the survey carried out for the World Economic Forum (WEF), a high majority of respondents were pessimistic about the world future with 48 per cent saying that the future generation will live in a less safe world against 26 per cent who thought otherwise.

As many as 15 per cent thought reducing wars should be first priority against 12 per cent for whom war against terror was most important. Compared with the previous years, these two priorities replaced promoting economic growth and closing gaps between the rich and poor being mentioned as two top priorities in the previous years.

The People's Voice Poll, carried out by Gallup International Association, was released ahead of the Forum's annual meeting in Davos scheduled for Jan 24 to 28.

Africans were the most critical of their politicians. In this region, eight out of ten (81 per cent) said political leaders are dishonest.

The respondents showed declining optimism when asked whether the next generation would see more economic prosperity. The pessimism was especially noticeable in Western Europe and Americas. But globally four out of ten thought that next generation will see more prosperity and 31 per cent saw declining prosperity. Apparently, optimism in some growing Asian economies more than offset the pessimism of the rest of the regions.

In Asia overall, 53 per cent think the next generation will be economically more prosperous compared with just a quarter (23 per cent) expressing the opposite view.

Commenting on the survey's findings, Klaus Schwab, Executive Chairman and Founder of the WEF, said, "We are witnessing everywhere a changing power equation. Power is moving from the centre to the periphery. Vertical command and control structures are eroding and are being replaced by horizontal networks of social communities and collaborative platforms."

In the Americas, six out of ten (59 per cent) supported the view that the world will be a less safe place for future generations, against only 15 per cent felt that the world would be a safer place.

In the Middle East, an area of the world that has experienced many conflicts in recent times, the region's population is less upbeat about prospects for safety in the future. Only a quarter of those interviewed (24 per cent) feel it will be safer compared with close to half (46 per cent) who feel the opposite.

Survey in Afghanistan and Iraq show a considerable decline in optimism on the issue of safety since last year.