What the world will be like in 2025

If 100,000 Britons are correct, the world in 2025 could see China emerging as the most powerful nation and Prince William as the King of England.

A survey questioned men and women of the United Kingdom on how they pictured the world in 2025. Fifty percent said they believe Prince William will bypass Prince Charles to be crowned the King of England and 60 per cent think China is set to become the world's leading superpower.

Thirty three percent believe that Britain will be made up of four self-governed countries and a quarter of those believe a new party will form the government in 2025, although the same proportion think that the Labour Party will be back in power.

Four per cent think humans will make a permanent base on Mars while one in ten expect a colony of humans to be living in space.

Three-quarters are confident the retirement age will have risen to 70 by the time they reach pensionable age.

The Pulse of the Nation survey was carried out to mark MSN's 15 year anniversary.

"When MSN launched, Toy Story came out and was the first completely computer generated film, John Major was UK's prime minister and the Barings Bank collapsed," the Daily Mail quoted Matt Ball, editor-in-chief at MSN UK, as saying.

"British life has changed remarkably since then. The depth and breadth of insight from our research demonstrates how passionate and opinionated people are about life in the UK," he said.