Trust Survey 2021: International Comparisons

Trust in National Government, Local Government and Political Parties

Ireland has the fourth highest trust level in national government

Respondents to the OECD Trust survey were asked to rate their trust levels in ‘the national government’, ‘the local government’, and ‘political parties’ on a 0-10-point scale from ‘0 Not at all’ to ‘10 Completely’. The OECD’s publication reports 0-4 scores as ‘not trusting’, 5 as ‘neutral’ and 6-10 scores are grouped as ‘trusting’.

The OECD reported a trust in government level for 20 out of 22 of the survey participant countries^[1]. Norway had the highest percentage of respondents who trust their national government with over six in ten (63.8%) respondents having a trust level score in their government of 6 or higher on the 0-10-point scale. Colombia had the lowest percentage at 20.5%. Of EU participant countries (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, and Sweden), Finland had the highest and Latvia the lowest percentage of respondents who trust their national governments (61.5% and 24.5% respectively). In Ireland, half (50.6%) of respondents trust their national government, a similar rate to Iceland and the Netherlands. One in three (34.8%) UK respondents trust their national government. In 15 out of 20 countries, less than half of respondents trust their national government.

^[1] Trust in national government data not available for New Zealand and Mexico

People in Norway, Finland, and Ireland more trusting of national government than of local government

In most countries that participated in the survey, trust in local government is higher than trust in national government. For example, almost half (47.6%) of respondents to the French survey trust their local government which is almost 20 percentage points higher than the percentage (28.1%) who trust their national government. In Norway, Finland, and Ireland the reverse is true, where the share of respondents who trust the national government is higher than the share who trust local government. In Ireland the percentage of respondents who trust their local government (45.2%) is 5.4 percentage points lower than the percentage who trust the national government (50.6%).

In all countries, trust levels in political parties were relatively low. In four countries (Colombia, France, Latvia, and Ireland) the percentage of respondents who trust their national government is more than double the percentage who trust political parties. The absolute difference between the percentage of respondents who trust their national government and the percentage who trust political parties in their country was largest in Ireland at 26 percentage points (50.6% compared with 24.6%).

Trust in Police, Courts and Legal System

Trust in police tends to be higher than trust in other institutions

Overall, trust levels in the police were higher than trust levels in other institutions. In 19 out of 21 countries, at least half of respondents trust the police^[2]. Finland had the highest percentage of respondents who trust the police with almost nine in ten (87.0%) respondents having a trust level of 6 or higher on the 0-10-point scale. Colombia had the lowest percentage at 30.4%. In Ireland, three in four respondents (75.4%) trust the police, over ten percentage points higher than the rate for the UK (64.9%).

^[2] Trust in police data not available for Mexico

Trust in the courts and legal system was highest in Norway (80.9%) and lowest in Colombia (19.1%)^[3].

In most countries  a higher percentage of respondents trust the police than the percentage who trust courts and the legal system. The exceptions are Japan, Norway, and the UK where the rates for trust in the courts and the legal system are marginally higher that the trust rates in the police. For example, 64.9% of UK survey respondents trust the police compared with 68.1% who trust the courts and legal system. In Portugal, the rate for trust in police is almost 30 percentage points higher than the rate for trust in the courts and legal system (71.8% and 42% respectively). In Ireland the rate for trust in police is over 7 percentage points higher than the rate for trust in the courts and legal system (75.4% and 68.1% respectively). The percentage of respondents who trust the courts and legal system is the same in Ireland and the UK (both at 68.1%).

^[3] Trust in the courts and legal system data not available for Finland

Trust in Most People

Ireland fourth most trusting of other people

Respondents were asked to rate their trust level ‘in most people’ on a 0-10-point scale from ‘0 Not at all’ to ‘10 Completely’. Of the 18 countries for which the OECD reported a trust in people score, the Netherlands had the highest percentage of respondents who trust most people (82.9%) and Latvia had the lowest (58.4%). More than three in four (77.6%) respondents in Ireland trust most people, a similar rate to Norway and Iceland.

Other intercountry results of the OECD Trust survey

Respondents were asked to rate their trust level in ‘the civil service (non-elected government employees at central or local levels of government)’ on a 0-10-point scale from ‘0 Not at all’ to ‘10 Completely’. Trust levels in the civil service are highest in Iceland, Luxembourg, and Ireland where two in three respondents (almost 68% in each of these 3 countries) trust the civil service and lowest in Colombia where one in five (19.9%) respondents trust the civil service. The share of UK respondents that indicated trust in the civil service was 55.5%.

Less than half of respondents trust the news media in 18 out 20 OECD countries

Overall, trust levels in the news media are low with only two countries (Netherlands and South Korea) where more than half of respondents trust the news media. In Ireland four in ten (41.7%) respondents trust the news media. Of EU participant countries Austria and France had the lowest trust in news media, where approximately one in four respondents trust the news media (26.9% and 27% respectively). In the UK one in three (32.5%) trust the news media.

OECD Average Levels of Trust

The OECD average score for each trust level indicator was calculated by adding individual scores for each country and dividing the total by the number of countries that had a score for the particular indicator. Care should be taken when interpreting the average scores as some national questionnaires did not contain questions related to some of the trust indicators.

Table 1 OECD Average level of Trust
Police	67.1
Other people	66.9
Courts	56.9
Civil service	50.2
Local government	46.9
National government	41.4
News media	38.8
Political parties	24.5