Jakarta – Nielsen Indonesia on Wednesday said the Indonesian middle class topped the global consumer index in the second quarter of 2013, making them the most optimistic group in the world.

Catherine Eddy, Nielsen Indonesia managing director, said Indonesia topped the Nielsen Global Survey of Consumer Confidence and Spending Intentions index with 124 points – the country's highest level since 2009 – followed by the Philippines with 121 points and India with 118 points.

"The average global consumer index is 94 points. In Asia Pacific it is 105 points," she said at her office in Jakarta as quoted by kontan.co.id.

According to Catherine, the index is based on consumer confidence indicators, such as local employment prospects, consumerism and personal finance. In Indonesia the index level was boosted by consumer credence in facing the 2014 presidential election.

"If we take a look at previous data, the index usually went up between six to 12 months before the elections," she said.

Catherine said the research was conducted between May 13 and 31, via an online survey that had 29,000 respondents in 58 countries. "We select the respondents randomly. There were 500 people surveyed in Indonesia," she said. (fan)