Still spend, spend, spend for NZ consumers

India, New Zealand and Norway have the world's most confident consumers, an ACNielsen survey shows.

The twice-yearly survey found consumers in Portugal and South Korea have the weakest confidence.

India, the world's second-fastest growing major economy, is expanding at 8 per cent a year.

New Zealand is the third smallest and Norway is the 25th biggest among the 48 economies tracked by Bloomberg.

Benedicto Cid, managing director at ACNielsen's Philippines unit, said: "India is experiencing a boom ... New Zealand is nearly at full employment so people are feeling confident in their job prospects and companies are looking after people well."

The survey, conducted through the internet last November, covered more than 23,000 consumers in 41 markets, including the United States and Germany.

As a region, the Asia Pacific has the most optimistic consumers, after North America, the survey found, edging out Latin America and Europe.

In the Asia Pacific region, India, New Zealand, Malaysia, China and Australia have the most-confident consumers with at least 75 per cent of those polled expecting good local job prospects in the next 12 months. South Korea was the most pessimistic with 13 per cent.

Consumers in India, New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia and Indonesia were the most optimistic about prospects for their personal finances in the next 12 months. At least 50 per cent of those surveyed in India, New Zealand, Australia and China claim they are in "spending mode".

- BLOOMBERG