In democratic societies, changes in trust in public institutions can reflect a shifting gap between citizens’ expectations and what institutions deliver. While there is no one silver bullet to building trust, improvements in trust levels along with healthy levels of public scrutiny facilitate the implementation of government policies, foster social cohesion and unite people around shared goals (Brezzi et al., 2021). Strengthening trust in public institutions through good public governance remains a top priority for many OECD governments.
Across the OECD surveyed countries, about four in ten people (39%) show high or moderately high trust in their national government, while 44% report low or no trust. However, levels vary considerably across countries. In Luxembourg (56%), Mexico (54%) and Switzerland (62%), the majority report high or moderately high trust in their national government, while in one-third of surveyed countries, the share is less than 35%. Law and order institutions tend to be more trusted than political ones. More than half the population in OECD surveyed countries have a high or moderately high trust in the courts and judicial system (54%). Trust in both the civil service and local government stands at 45%, and is just 37% for the national parliament (Figure 2.1).
In the 18 countries with data available for both years, the share of people with high or moderately high trust in their national government declined from 43% in 2021 to 41% in 2023. Conversely, there has been a 3-percentage point increase in the share of people with low or no trust (from 40% to 43%). However, these averages mask significant changes in trust levels within individual countries (Figure 2.2).
Different groups have different perceptions and interactions with public institutions. Across OECD surveyed countries, trust in national government tends to be significantly lower among people with financial concerns (35% compared to 52% without concerns), lower education attainment (33% against 46% for the highly educated), or who would describe themselves as belonging to a group that is discriminated against (30% compared to 43% those not in such groups). Across the OECD surveyed countries, 36% of women and 43% of men expressed high or moderately high trust in the government (Figure 2.3).
The factor with the greatest impact on trust seems to be individuals' sense of political agency. Of those who feel they have a voice in government decisions, 69% report high or moderately high trust in the national government. In stark contrast, this is just 22% among individuals who feel they lack a voice. Similarly, on average across countries, the trust gap between those with a high confidence in their own ability to participate in politics and those without is 25 percentage points (Figure 2.3).
