Britain is one of the most pessimistic countries over the prospects for 2017, according to a new poll.

Despite a tumultuous 2016, one in three Britons do not believe the year ahead will be any better, while only one in eight feel confident the next 12 months will be an improvement.

The findings come after a year which saw Britain vote to withdraw from the European Union, the election of Donald Trump as the next President of the US, the rise of far right populism in the West and runaway climate change.

However, of the 25 major nations polled by Ipsos, France is the most negative; with only half feeling 2017 will get better.

(Statista (Statista)

Peru is most positive, with 96 per cent believing 2017 will see an upturn, shows a chart created for The Independent by Statista. Hungary is the most optimistic of the European nations polled.

Despite Mr Trump losing the popular vote to Hillary Clinton in the US election, four out of five Americans believe the billionaire’s first year in office will be better than Barack Obama’s last.

2016: The year of Brexit

And despite almost half of voters opting against Brexit, 43 per cent thought 2016 was a bad year for them and their families.

Of the countries polled, just China, Japan and Sweden felt happier about the last 12 months.

Brazilians were comfortably the least happy with 2016 following the impeachment of their president Dilma Rousseff and a politically contentious Olympic Games in Rio.

In the US, 51 per cent thought the year of Mr Trump’s unprecedented victory had been a negative one.

In terms of the global economic outlook for 2017, Great Britain, France, Belgium and Italy are particularly pessimistic, with only one in three Britons believing it will be stronger than 2016.