India most bullish as global consumer confidence improves: Nielsen

India remained the most bullish consumer market, while Italy became the most pessimistic, according to the latest survey on consumer confidence by global information and insights company Nielsen.

Consumer confidence in the United States jumped in the third quarter and improved globally, the survey showed.

The survey showed that concerns about the economy and job prospects had eased globally from the second quarter, although people were more optimistic about job prospects than their personal finances.

In North America and Europe fears over economic prospects had been replaced by rising worries about war and terrorism.

While Britain and Germany saw consumer confidence improve, European countries generally were the most pessimistic, reflecting the conflict in Ukraine, faltering growth and the risk of deflation in the euro zone.

The Nielsen Global Consumer Confidence Index rose 1 point in the third quarter to 98, according to the survey, conducted between 13 August and 5 September.

The index has been steadily rising since the first quarter of 2012 and the latest reading is closer to the 100 mark that signals optimism among consumers.

US consumers were the seventh most upbeat globally, with their score rising 4 points to 108 as optimism about job prospects continued to surge.

Americans were also slightly more upbeat about the outlook for their personal finances than they were in the second quarter, unlike Europeans, who were more pessimistic, reflecting persistently low wage growth.

"US consumers are now feeling far more confident than in previous years of the recovery due to consistently good job market trends, reflected in steady payroll growth and falling unemployment over the course of 2014," said Louise Keely, a senior vice president at Nielsen.

"They are also benefiting from lower gasoline prices and a gradually improving housing market. In the coming months, as we start to see more people re-entering the workforce and meaningful wage growth, this is likely to translate into broad-based gains in consumer spending."

Australia saw the biggest increase in confidence from the previous quarter, by 12 points, followed by Slovenia with a 9-point increase and Thailand with 8 points.

Chile posted the sharpest drop in confidence, by 7 points, followed by the Philippines with a 5-point decline and 4-point decreases for Italy and Ukraine.

The Nielsen survey was conducted online and covered more than 30,000 consumers across 60 markets.

Following is the Nielsen Global Consumer Confidence Index for the third quarter of 2014 (with change from Q2 survey in brackets):