Adults in 34 of 37 countries surveyed by Pew Research Center were more likely to expect artificial intelligence to eliminate jobs than create them over the next 20 years, a measure of public expectations rather than a forecast of what employment will do.
The international report released Sept. 17 also found that many people expect AI to widen the gap between rich and poor. Views differed sharply by national income, age and how much respondents had heard about the technology.
Pew surveyed 42,151 adults across 36 countries and territories outside the United States from Feb. 8 to May 13, 2026. The U.S. results came from separate nationally representative American Trends Panel surveys of 5,119 adults in February and 3,488 in June. Those distinct samples underpin the report's comparisons across 37 places; the international medians are not a single population-weighted global percentage.
Job fears differ by national income
Across 18 high-income countries, a median 55% of adults said AI will lead to fewer jobs in their country, compared with a 36% median across 18 middle-income countries, according to Pew's income-group analysis. Larger shares in middle-income countries were unsure: medians of 34%, compared with 22% in high-income countries. Pew used World Bank classifications for the groups.
Australia, South Korea and the United States were among the wealthier countries where about seven in 10 adults or more expected job losses. In the U.S., that expectation rose seven percentage points from 2024, the earlier year when Pew asked the same question there. The survey does not measure actual job creation or displacement, and national opinions cannot be read as New York-specific estimates.
Among adults in high-income countries, a median 35% expected AI to increase the gap between rich and poor, compared with 22% in middle-income countries. In the U.S., 46% held that view. Pew found no country where more than a quarter expected AI to reduce inequality; in 29 places that response drew single-digit shares.
The U.S. divide on inequality was also political and generational. Liberals were 31 percentage points more likely than conservatives to say AI would increase the wealth gap. Adults younger than 35 were more likely than those 50 and older to say so, 56% to 38%. Those figures describe expectations about inequality, not a measured change in incomes.
Pew found a different age pattern in Argentina, Chile, Hungary, Italy and Peru, where older adults were more likely than younger ones to predict a wider wealth gap. In 11 mostly high-income countries, women were more likely than men to expect fewer jobs. The results do not support a single demographic pattern across every country.
Younger adults know more, but concern is rising
In all 36 places where Pew could compare age groups, adults ages 18 to 34 were more likely than those 50 and older to say they had heard or read a lot about AI. The gap reached at least 30 percentage points in 19 countries, according to Pew's age analysis. In Spain, 67% of younger adults reported high awareness, compared with 16% of older adults.
More familiarity did not translate into uniformly positive views. In more than half the surveyed countries, younger adults were most likely to say they felt equally concerned and excited about AI. They were generally more likely than older adults to be primarily excited, while older adults were more likely to be primarily concerned.
But concern among younger Americans rose markedly. The share of U.S. adults ages 18 to 34 who said they were more concerned than excited climbed from 40% in 2024 to 55% in 2026. Pew said the corresponding share among adults 35 and older was stable or fell during that period. Young adults in Sweden, Poland, Brazil, Japan and Australia also became more likely to report primary concern since the prior survey.
In 13 countries, younger adults were more likely than older adults to predict AI-related job losses. The gap was particularly large in the Philippines: 36% among adults under 35 versus 11% among those 50 and older. Older respondents were often more uncertain, rather than more likely to expect AI to create jobs.
Awareness and mixed feelings
A median 50% of adults in high-income countries said they had heard or read a lot about AI, compared with 27% in middle-income countries, Pew found. Its awareness analysis found increases in 11 of the 25 countries with comparable 2025 results, including 14-point growth in Nigeria, 11 points in Hungary and 10 points in the United Kingdom. The U.S. share reporting high awareness has nearly doubled since Pew began asking in 2022.
Education and income were also associated with awareness. In every surveyed country, more-educated adults were more likely to report hearing a lot about AI; in nearly every country, higher-income adults were more likely to do so. Pew reported similar age differences in most countries. These are survey associations, not proof that any of those characteristics caused a person's views.
Across the 37 places, a median 37% of adults were more concerned than excited about AI in daily life, while a 41% median felt both equally. South Korea illustrates why economic expectations and general feelings should not be treated as identical: Despite substantial concern there about jobs and inequality, 61% reported equal concern and excitement, and 21% were primarily excited.
The survey methodology says the international research used a mix of telephone, face-to-face and online interviews, with national samples unless noted. The U.S. surveys used a randomly recruited adult panel and were weighted to reflect the population. Pew gives full-sample sampling-error margins of plus or minus 1.6 percentage points for February and 1.8 points for June; those margins should not be applied to country medians or smaller subgroups. Questions, translation, nonresponse and differing national survey methods are additional limits when comparing results.
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