I've been browsing through the Economist a bit lately, and found an interesting chart that is somewhat relevant. The chart on this page, as the title implies, compares results of polls on the status of the world economy in April, July and October in various regions around the world.
The only section other than America predicting any improvement was the Middle East and Africa. How much of this is skewed by the positivity that follows any government change? It's hard to say. The statistics may be skewed by a sample that obtained too many individuals who are benefiting from the Arab Spring, or are benefiting from not being suppressed under dictators such as Ben Ali in Tunisia or Hosni Mubarak in Egypt. But it's a trend that is interesting, and worth keeping an eye out for.
Another chart that I found interesting, although of fairly little relevance, is this one that describes the economic situation of various nations around the world. In particular, I was surprised by Egypt's 12.6% unemployment in Q2, and South Africa having 25.5% unemployment during the same quarter. The only nations even close to South Africa are Spain and Greece, with Spain at 25.8% and Greece at 25.4%. Those who pay attention to the news can testify however, the western media is a lot more worried about Spain and Greece than South Africa. I hadn't even realized it until I hunted it down in that graphic.
It's an interesting notion, that the Middle East and Africa is the most positive region when it comes to the world economy. It's dangerous, as their own economies include a large amount of outside investment which would take a few years to hit them. At the same time, it indicates a simpler lifestyle that simply isn't as oriented around the ultra-competitive numbers game so common in the West.
Perhaps this is why South Africa's unemployment is so high; a large portion of the population is still oriented as a rural nation, and drags the unemployment numbers up. The graphic doesn't provide enough data, but it's food for though.
That's really interesting to point out the unemployment numbers in Africa - it does seem odd that they would be so high and yet the continent seems high about its overall economy. Definitely something to think about when considering economies in other areas of the world, because I think we forget how rural some countries are and many are self-employed or live in an area where the type of employment differs. Not sure if my comment makes sense, but I really appreciate the point you make in this entry about the article.
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