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Austrians are entering 2026 with noticeably subdued optimism. According to the 54th annual New Year survey conducted by IMAS and published on Sunday, confidence levels remain almost unchanged from the previous year. In November, 27 percent of respondents looked toward the new year with concern, 34 percent described themselves as skeptical, and roughly one third expressed a positive outlook.
Lingering Crises Weigh on Public Mood
The overall sentiment remains clouded by ongoing global and domestic challenges. Persistent inflation, rising prices, the war in Ukraine, and the conflict in the Middle East continue to dampen spirits. These issues, the survey suggests, are shaping how Austrians perceive the year ahead.
Among those who feel hopeful, personal circumstances play the biggest role: 42 percent of the optimistic group cited their own stable or positive life situation as the reason for their confidence. Another 10 percent described themselves as “cautiously optimistic,” believing that things can only improve from here.
Pessimistic respondents, by contrast, pointed primarily to external pressures. Inflation was cited by 39 percent of both the “worried” and the “skeptical” groups, while negative political sentiment influenced 21 percent of the worried and 18 percent of the skeptical respondents.
Looking Back: 2025 Seen as a ‘Fairly Good Year’
Retrospective assessments of 2025 mirror those of the previous year. Nearly half of Austrians described 2025 as at least a “fairly good year.” Before the pandemic, in 2019, that figure stood at 69 percent. It plummeted to 22 percent in 2020 but has been gradually recovering each year since.
Fewer New Year’s Resolutions for 2026
The survey also explored New Year’s resolutions — and found that only one in three Austrians plans to set any goals for 2026. A healthier lifestyle remains the most common aspiration, though even this has declined slightly. While 46 percent aimed to exercise more in 2024, only 42 percent expressed the same intention this year. Similarly, 35 percent want to take better care of themselves (down from 41 percent), and 34 percent hope to eat more healthily (down from 41 percent).
Spending more time with family and friends is a priority for 31 percent of respondents. At the bottom of the list — as has been the case every year since 2017 — is political engagement. Only eight percent plan to become more politically active in 2026.
On average, Austrians who do make resolutions set around four goals for the new year.
- Hector Pascua with reports from vienna.at/picture: canva.com
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