Trust in public institutions and satisfaction with public services are important yardsticks of the quality of public governance. They reflect people’s perceptions of government competence in designing and delivering policies and services, and expectations on the behaviour of public institutions and their representatives. Although high trust in public institutions is not a necessary outcome of democratic governance, trust and satisfaction with public services facilitate effective governance, as they correlate with high rates of compliance with policies, participation in public life and social cohesion.
The United States has a mixed performance on satisfaction with public services. On health care, 75% of Americans report being satisfied, which is 7 percentage points above the average across OECD countries, whereas 45% are satisfied with the judicial system, 11 percentage points below the OECD average (56%). For the education system, the satisfaction level is slightly below the OECD average (64% compared to 67%).