GDP: Public's confidence falls as just one in eight think economy is in good shape However the poll found that there are gloomier outlooks across much of the rest of Europe. In France, just seven per cent said their economy is doing well and in Italy only five per cent were positive about their country's finances, In America the situation is more positive, with 31 per cent of those surveyed saying they were positive about the overall state of the economy. One year ago in America the figure stood at 21 per cent and in November 2008, it was just 11 per cent. Simon Atkinson, deputy chief executive at Ipsos MORI, said: "When we look at economic confidence, the big divide is not between Britain and the rest of Europe. It is between Germany and Sweden, where consumers are broadly positive, and the rest of the continent - where consumers most certainly are not. At a time when confidence is recovering in other parts of the world, it's becoming even harder to find in most European countries It comes as UK GDP contracted by a bigger-than-expected 0.3 per cent in the last three months of 2012. The Office for National Statistics said the fall was down to lower output from the North Sea and manufacturers. The news will be a blow for Britain's Conservative-led government, which only a day earlier defended its austerity programme against criticism from the International Monetary Fund's chief economist. The economy is now 3.3 per cent smaller than its peak in the first quarter in 2008, recovering only about half the output lost during the financial crisis - a worse performance than other major economies. Britain's economy also suffered a mild recession from late 2011 to mid 2012.