The Kiwis are not very optimistic this year, according to a survey that tracks 20 years of New Zealand's mood as a nation.

UMR, a polling agency that has been studying New Zealand's mood for 20 years now, has recently released a report showing the mood of the nation is at the lowest point since the global financial crisis of 2008.

UMR said New Zealand's hopes for this year are bleak, with survey results showing a steady decline in optimism over the past two years, the Dominion Post reported.

Although the Kiwis were lifted by the 2011 Rugby World Cup, the positivity was short-lived, considering their self-rating for happiness had dropped from 75 per cent in October to 69 per cent in December.

Meanwhile, job satisfaction in the country remains below its 2008 peak, at 80 per cent.

In its 20-year report, UMR noted a record low in the nation's mood in 1991, after the unpopular fourth Labour government left office and the country suffered a recession that led to National's punishing "Mother of all Budgets."

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UMR further said the nation's mood improved considerably from 1999 to 2003, reflecting a new government, a popular prime minister in Helen Clark, high employment, and rising house prices.

But this mood was not maintained as a bout of recession hit the country and relations between National and coalition partner Winston Peters soured, resulting in the drop of government's popularity.

However, the mood is expected to pick up over the next ten years, said UMR.

The Dominion Post spoke to Mindworks psychologist Sara Chatwin, who said she believes New Zealanders have been on a rollercoaster of emotion over the past 12 months.

"It was a year where we had amazing lows and an amazing high with the world cup. We were shocked as a nation over what happened in Christchurch, we were shocked about Pike River, and then were exuberant and exhilarated by the world cup."

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