GENEVA (AFP) - Nearly half the people in 60 countries believe that their children will inherit a less secure world, marking a sharp deterioration in the global mood in a year, according to a poll released Monday.

Forty-eight percent of people questioned in the Gallup International survey believe that the next generation will live in a world that is a lot less or a little less secure.

The same "Voice of the People" poll for the World Economic Forum one year ago showed that the optimists (35 percent) outstripped the pessimists (30 percent) in the worldwide sample.

Europeans and Americans continue to head the ranks of the doomsayers.

The poll was marked by a sharp deterioration in the mood in the Middle East, where 46 percent now have little hope of a safe world for the future generation, compared to just 30 percent in the poll published in January 2006.

Hope in embattled Iraq has plummetted, according to the data released by the Forum. Just 36 percent of Iraqis hold faith in a safer world for their children against 61 percent last year.

By contrast, global levels of confidence in economic prosperity for the next generation were holding up, with 62 percent expecting similar or better levels of wealth.

The survey for the annual meeting of global business and political leaders in the Swiss resort of Davos next week continued to show a lack of confidence in politicians.

Forty three percent of respondents worldwide felt they were dishonest, compared to 34 percent for business leaders.

The poll questioned 55,000 people in 60 countries in interviews carried out in November and December 2006.