In Ireland, 83% percent of respondents reported high or moderately high trust in most people, the highest of all participant countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Trust Survey 2023.
Some 47% of respondents in Ireland reported high or moderately high trust in national government, the same percentage as both Finland and Belgium.
The survey found that Ireland had the highest percentage of respondents who reported high or moderately high trust in the civil service (66%) and international organisations such as the United Nations (64%).
Ireland ranked seventh highest (68%) out of the 30 countries surveyed for the percentage of respondents with recent access to the education system who reported being satisfied with that service.
Ireland and Slovakia had the lowest percentage of respondents with recent access to the healthcare system who reported being satisfied (26%) with that service.
Ireland was one of 30 countries that participated in the 2023 round of the OECD Trust Survey, which also included Australia, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Korea, Latvia, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
Along with trust, respondents were surveyed about recent access to, and satisfaction with, the education system, healthcare system, and administrative services, in their country of residence. Respondents who had recent access to the education system, healthcare system and quality of administrative services were asked to rank their satisfaction level on a scale of 0 (Not at all satisfied) to 10 (Completely satisfied). Those with a score of 6-10 were grouped as satisfied.
Respondents with recent access to the education system were those who answered yes to the question “In the last 2 years, have you or somebody in your household been enrolled in an educational institution…” in their country of residence. Respondents with recent access to the healthcare system were those who answered yes to the question “In the last 12 months, have you or somebody in your household personally made use of the healthcare system…” in their country of residence. Respondents with recent access to administrative services were those who answered yes to the question “In the last 12 months, have you personally made use of administrative service in [country] (for example, applying for a passport, registering a birth, or applying for benefits etc.)?”.
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (23 October 2024) issued intercountry results from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Trust Survey 2023.
Commenting on today’s release, Caragh Stapleton, Statistician in the Social & Demographic Statistics Directorate, said: “Measuring interpersonal trust and trust in different government organisations helps us understand public attitudes on key topics, at a time of global challenges.
Ireland was one of 30 countries that participated in the OECD Trust Survey 2023. The Trust Survey monitors people’s self-reported interpersonal trust and trust in different institutions and levels of government across OECD countries. The first such survey was carried out in 2021.
Respondents to the survey were asked to rate their trust levels on a 0-10-point scale from ‘0 Not at all’ to ‘10 Completely’. Respondents were also asked to rate their satisfaction levels in the education system, healthcare system and quality of administrative services on a 0-10-point scale from ‘0 Not at all satisfied’ to ‘10 Completely satisfied’. The OECD reports 6-10 trust scores as ‘high to moderately high trust’ and 6-10 satisfaction scores as ‘satisfied’. The CSO published national results of the Trust Survey 2023 on 10 July 2024 and the OECD published the intercountry results in “OECD Survey on Drivers of Trust in Public Institutions – 2024 Results: Building Trust in a Complex Policy Environment” also on 10 July 2024.
Trust in People
Ireland showed the highest percentage of respondents who reported high or moderately high trust in most people (83%) when compared with all other countries in the OECD Trust Survey 2023. This was closely followed by Iceland (82%).
Trust in Government
Switzerland and Luxembourg were found to have the highest percentage of respondents who reported high or moderately high trust in local government, national government, and parliament.
In Ireland, 47% of respondents reported high or moderately high trust in national government. This was a similar rate to that seen in Finland and Belgium (both at 47%).
When it comes to local government, 41% of respondents in Ireland reported high or moderately high trust levels. Costa Rica, Columbia, and the United Kingdom ranked lowest for the percentage of respondents reporting high or moderately high trust in local government at 34%, whilst Switzerland and Luxembourg ranked highest at 63% and 62% respectively.
Trust in Political Parties
The United Kingdom had the lowest percentage (12%) of respondents reporting high or moderately high trust in political parties when compared with other participant countries. The highest proportion of respondents reporting high or moderately high trust in political parties was seen in Switzerland at 38%. In Ireland, 26% of respondents reported high or moderately high trust in political parties.
Trust in Police
In Ireland, 70% of respondents had high or moderately high trust in the Gardaí. A similar percentage of respondents reporting high or moderately high trust in police was seen in New Zealand (71%), Sweden (69%), and Denmark (69%). Finland had the highest and Colombia had the lowest percentage of respondents reporting high or moderately high trust in police, at 87% and 39% respectively.
Trust in the Civil Service
Ireland was found to have the highest percentage of respondents (66%) who reported high or moderately high trust in the civil service followed by Iceland (64%) and Finland (62%). Chile had the lowest percentage of respondents (24%) who reported high or moderately high trust in the civil service.
Trust in the News Media
The United Kingdom had the lowest percentage (19%) of respondents who had high or moderately high trust in the news media. In Ireland, 47% of respondents reported high or moderately high trust in the news media. This was similar to proportions seen in Norway (49%) and Sweden (45%). The highest proportion of respondents who had high or moderately high trust in the news media was seen in Iceland (62%).
Satisfaction in Services
Striking trends were seen in the relative satisfaction for different public services in Ireland compared with the other surveyed OECD countries.
For example, Ireland ranked seventh highest (68%) out of the 30 countries surveyed for the percentage of respondents with recent access to the education system who reported being satisfied with that service.
Finland ranked highest for the percentage of respondents with recent access to the education system who reported being satisfied at 81%. Greece had the lowest percentage of respondents who reported being satisfied with the education system (37%).
By contrast, Ireland was joint lowest with Slovakia (26%) for the percentage of respondents with recent access to healthcare services who reported being satisfied with that service. The highest scoring data here was from Belgium, with more than 80% of respondents reporting satisfaction with their healthcare system.
Among respondents who had recent access to their countries administrative services such as applying for a passport or registering a birth, Estonia, Finland, Luxembourg, and Switzerland reported the highest percentage of respondents who were satisfied in the quality of administrative services with more than 80% of respondents reporting they were satisfied. This can be compared with approximately 51% of respondents in Ireland who were satisfied in administrative services. Similar levels were seen in Germany, Chile, and France. Portugal had the lowest percentage of respondents who reported being satisfied with the quality of administrative services (43%).”