Nikkei Research conducted the "Global Living Conditions DI" survey, which asks citizens of eight countries, mainly in Asia, about their lifestyle experiences via the Internet. It plans to continue conducting the survey every three months.

The survey targeted approximately 200 men and women aged 20 to 59 from each country, including the United States, the United Kingdom, China, India, Malaysia, Thailand, Brazil, and Russia. The survey asked about their current and three-month future living conditions. The "Living Conditions DI" (index) is calculated by subtracting the percentage of respondents who answered "good (will improve)" from the percentage who answered "bad (will worsen)."

In the first survey, conducted in July, India topped the list with an 83 rating for current living conditions, followed by Brazil, China, the three BRICs countries, and Malaysia, all with scores close to 70. Meanwhile, Russia's score was low, in the 30s. Brazil scored 80 for living conditions three months from now, while the United Kingdom's was an extremely low 15.