“Asia Pacific continues to dominate the list of most optimistic countries with seven of the top 10 highest consumer confidence scores hailing from this region,” the Nielsen Holdings N.V. said in a statement released over the weekend. The company added that “India, despite a decline of five points, retains the top spot with an index of 121, followed by Saudi Arabia (120), Indonesia (114), Brazil (112), the Philippines (112), Thailand (109), United Arab Emirates (105), China (104), Hong Kong (104) and Malaysia (101).

“Hungary (37) was the most pessimistic country in the third quarter, together with Portugal (40), South Korea, Romania and Croatia (49).” On a regional basis, the company noted Asia Pacific and Latin America as the world’s most optimistic in the third quarter at 97 points, despite Asia Pacific posting a 1-point regional decline from 98 points in the second quarter of this year.

The online poll that Nielsen said it started in 2005 “tracks consumer confidence, major concerns and spending intentions among more than 28,000 Internet consumers in 56 countries.”

“Consumer-confidence levels above and below a baseline of 100 indicate degrees of optimism and pessimism.” In this latest round of survey, which Nielsen said it conducted between August 30 and September 16, “majority of the respondents [64 percent] agree that now is not a good time to buy the things they want and need, with one-in-five Europeans and one-in-three North Americans reporting they have no spare cash.”

“The outlook for consumers in these regions is more pessimistic now than it was at the height of the 2009 recession.”

In the available reports on the company’s web site, Filipino consumer confidence was higher in the third quarter of last year at 114, which was a 7-point increase from the second quarter of 2010.

The Philippine consumer-confidence index in the second quarter of this year was higher at 115, which was a 5-point increase from the 110 index at the first quarter of 2011.

Globally, “online consumer confidence fell for the seventh consecutive quarter as confidence in 31 of 56 global markets measured declined,” Nielsen said.

“Third quarter was volatile and challenging for global economies and financial markets amid stagnant US unemployment figures and a worsening euro-zone debt crisis,” the statement quoted Venkatesh Bala, chief economist at Nielsen unit The Cambridge Group said.

According to the poll, Asia Pacific consumers are savers and/or investors, with 61 percent said they put into savings whatever they have, while 33 percent said they invest in stocks and/or mutual funds. The global average is 46 percent for savings and 18 percent for investments.

“A recessionary mindset is growing among consumers as more than half say they are currently in a recession—up 4 percentage points from last quarter and seven points from the start of the year.

The result is continued spending restraint for discretionary expenses, which is expected to continue into the next year,” Bala was quoted as saying.