Ten years after the accession of Bulgaria to the EU and nearly five years after the start of the economic and financial recovery in the EU the Bulgarians are to welcome 2018 with record-high optimism, a survey of Alpha Research shows. 55% of the polled Bulgarians are expecting a better 2018 and only 9% of the people who took part at the survey said they expected 2018 to be worse than the previous one. After a twenty year gap the positive assessments again exceed the negative. The optimism of the Bulgarians is due to the economic recovery, the decrease of unemployment and the creation of well-paid jobs requiring highly-qualified and educated workforce. The survey also shows that despite the increased economic optimism, almost no changes in the confidence towards the institutions, the political leaders and the parties have occurred.