Almost four out of five Britons (79 per cent) believe the country is “on the wrong track” according to a new global survey.

Levels of pessimism about the country’s future were at their highest since the monthly study was launched in 2011, with positive sentiment plunging by 14 percentage points since January 2018.

Just 21 per cent of those questioned for the Ipsos Mori “What Worries the World?” study said that Great Britain was heading in the right direction”, down from 35 per cent at the start of last year.

And the pollster’s research director Keiran Pedley said that the current political instability and uncertainty over Brexit were likely to be “significant contributing factors” to the negative mood.

Britain was the third-gloomiest out of 28 countries surveyed – behind France and South Africa – with levels of optimism at exactly half the global average of 42 per cent.

Britons were more anxious than any other nationality about the rise of extremism, with 22 per cent naming it among their three top worries.

And concern about climate change hit its highest ever level – up eight points from the previous month.

(Ipsos)

With a quarter (25 per cent) of those questioned naming it as one of their top three worries, Britain ranked fourth in terms of anxiety about global warming, behind Canada, China and Germany.

The issues named most frequently among Britons’ top-three worries were crime and violence (35 per cent), healthcare (35 per cent), poverty and social inequality (30 per cent), climate change (25 per cent) and terrorism (24 per cent).

Britain Before Brexit: Northwest England Show all 12 1 /12 Britain Before Brexit: Northwest England Britain Before Brexit: Northwest England Liverpool Subverting the message of peace preached by one of the city’s favourite sons. War continues and is never really over Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: Northwest England Bolton A boarded-up shop front painted with Friday night vomit. Regurgitated food and liquid and bile adorn British weekend streets. It’s the sign of a body saving itself from self-poisoning Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: Northwest England Preston The bus station is a grade II-listed building. There are wonderful frames, with leading lines, repetitions of numbers and angles, soft light, hanging clocks. People wait to be taken elsewhere Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: Northwest England Carlisle The first thing I see in the city is a drunk man lying on the floor of the train station. He can’t walk, is completely unresponsive, and has a blank, vacant expression on his face, as if he’d just had his memory erased Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: Northwest England Liverpool Dismantling the tree of love, one heart at a time, until it’s bare and loveless and wintry. The city has made love one of its symbols since the Beatles told the world it’s all you need. I wonder what will become of these plastic hearts Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: Northwest England Blackburn Making a joint with one arm under angels, the other in a sling. I don’t stick around to find out how he rolls it, singlehandedly or otherwise Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: Northwest England Preston People browse the outdoor market, tempted into sales. I’m there to look at them, and in this scene they mix with boxes of music in working order, a Disney wink, and a limp Union Jack Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: Northwest England Liverpool I’m impressed how humans are dwarfed by human-made structures in the urban environment. The building is gigantic, geometrically solid and powerfully symmetrical, while the tiny man slouches, humanly imperfect and asymmetrical Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: Northwest England Blackburn The play on words for this new development is a footer to the town’s skyline, along which run the grey heights of a multi-storey carpark, Chapel Street Church spire, and the faint tops of houses Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: Northwest England Carlisle I’m led into the train station by a man on his mobility scooter. I photograph him and his sign, then take the train to Preston. I thought it was strange how someone could be so proud of a city, with all its details and complexities Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: Northwest England Bolton It’s one of the sickly contradictions of advertising: you can save money by spending it. Here it is presented as the headline of Bolton market, put so simply, yet still so complicated Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: Northwest England Liverpool When people stop to speak to rough sleepers it always looks so unbalanced. The different social positions of the interaction are exaggerated by the visual dimensions, with passer-by almost always standing above, leaning over, talking down Richard Morgan/The Independent

A majority (58 per cent) of those questioned across all 28 countries felt their homeland was on the wrong track, against 42 per cent who thought it was heading in the right direction – a two-point upwards tick in global optimism.

Mr Pedley said: “Levels of pessimism about Britain’s national direction continue to be extremely high when compared to other countries. In fact, since the series started in May 2011, levels of pessimism have never been higher in Britain than they are now in mid-2019.

“The current political turmoil and Brexit impasse are likely to be significant contributing factors to the negative mood but our data shows that other factors are at play too.

“Issues around crime, healthcare and poverty continue to worry Britons but it is also noticeable that concern about climate change is at record levels. This particular trend is supported by other Ipsos Mori research and perhaps reflects the increased focus on environmental issues in the media in past months.