OECD Survey on Drivers of Trust in Public Institutions 2026 Results: Brazil
Table of contents
The OECD Trust Survey explores people’s perceptions of different public institutions in their country and the degree to which they trust their government. These perceptions range from day-to-day interactions with public institutions to decision making on complex policy issues. It showcases evidence on people’s experiences with and expectations of government reliability, responsiveness, fairness, integrity and openness. The 2025 survey, which followed earlier rounds in 2021 and 2023, includes 33 OECD and 5 OECD accession countries. The survey covers a representative sample of the adult population of each participating country. It was carried out between 21 May and 9 June in Brazil prior to data collection in a majority of participating countries which took place between September and November 2025.
Between 2022 and 2025, Brazil recorded an increase in trust in the federal government. High or moderately high trust rose from 26% in 2022, reaching 38% in 2025, below the OECD average (40%).
Share of population who indicate different levels of trust in their national government (on a 0-10 scale), 2025
Note: ‘High or moderately high’ corresponds to the aggregation of response options 6-10 to the question “On a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 is not at all and 10 is completely, how much do you trust the national/federal government?”; neutral to option 5 and “low or no” to response options 0-4.
Trust in public institutions in Brazil varies across institutions, and tends to stand below the OECD averages for most political and administrative institutions. In 2025, trust was higher in law-and-order and administrative institutions than in political institutions, in line with OECD-wide patterns. 58% trust in the police, 45% trust in the courts, while trust in political parties stands at 20%. 41% trust in the civil service, compared to the OECD average of 45%.
Share of population with high or moderately high trust in different public institutions and the media, 2025
Note: ‘High or moderately high’ corresponds to the aggregation of response options 6-10 to the question “On a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 is not at all and 10 is completely, how much do you trust [institution]?”. Country-specific terms may have been used in the survey implementation for some public institutions. The labels in the figure are used to facilitate cross-country comparison.
Findings from the OECD Trust Survey 2025 indicate that trust gaps are generally largest along political dimensions, especially partisanship and political agency, while gaps linked to socio-economic conditions (such as financial hardship, education, or perceived discrimination) are typically narrower, and differences by age and gender are usually the smallest. In Brazil overall, the pattern of which characteristics matter most is in line with the OECD-wide pattern.
In terms of gap size, the divides in Brazil are larger than the OECD average for political agency/voice (53 percentage points (p.p.), compared to an OECD gap of 47 p.p.); and similar for financial hardship (18 p.p. compared to OECD 18 p.p.). Trust gaps by education are limited: trust in the national government is 7 percentage points higher among people with a post-secondary degree (44%) than those without upper secondary education (37%), compared to the average OECD education trust gap of 14 p.p. Age patterns differ from the OECD average: young people in Brazil report similar trust (39%) than those aged 50+ (40%), while on average across the OECD, young people tend to report lower levels of trust. Among women in Brazil, the share with high or moderately high trust in the national government is 5 percentage points larger than among men (reverse to the OECD pattern, where men tend to report higher trust, by about 7 p.p. on average).
Share of population with high or moderately high trust in the national government by population group, 2025
Note: ‘High or moderately high’ corresponds to the aggregation of response options 6-10 to the question “On a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 is not at all and 10 is completely, how much do you trust the national/federal government?”.
Perceptions of day-to-day dealings with public institutions in Brazil are less positive than the OECD average, with Brazil scoring above the OECD average on 2 out of 10 indicators. This provides a snapshot of how well people feel public services and frontline interactions work in practice (for example, how easy it is to access services, get information, and have issues resolved).
Across OECD countries, people who report more positive day-to-day experiences with government also tend to report higher trust in the national government, particularly those who are more satisfied with administrative services, feel benefit applications are treated fairly, and believe the public sector uses data legitimately.
In Brazil, satisfaction with administrative services increased from 32% (2022) to 50% (2025); perceived fairness in benefit applications increased from 33% (2022) to 48% (2025); and perceived legitimacy of public sector data use also increased from 27% (2022) to 38% (2025). Overall, this indicates broad improvement in day-to-day experiences, which, in OECD-wide results, are meaningfully associated with trust.
Share of population who are satisfied with public services or find a positive action in the respective situation likely, OECD and Brazil, 2025
Note: The figure presents the unweighted OECD averages and values for Brazil of the share of respondents who choose a response of 6-10 on the 0-10 scale for the above questions. Satisfaction with public services is restricted to recent service users.
Overall, people in Brazil rate decision making on complex policy issues above the OECD average on 9 out of 14 indicators, pointing to a more favourable public assessment of how well the governmental system handles complex, long-term issues, incorporates citizen input, weighs competing interests, and acts in the public interest.
At the OECD level, when it comes to more complex aspects of governance, trust is most strongly associated with positive perceptions that the government uses evidence in decision-making, that it can balance the interests of different generations, and that people like you have a say in what government does.
In Brazil, positive perceptions of the use of evidence are at 41% (2025); views on intergenerational balancing at 43% (2025); and political voice increased from 16% (2022) to 28% (2025). Taken together, this points to mid-range perceptions in aspects of complex decision-making that, at the OECD level, are strongly associated with trust.
Share of population who are confident in or find a positive action in the respective situation likely, OECD and Brazil, 2025
Note: The figure presents the unweighted OECD averages and values for Brazil of the share of respondents who choose a response of 6-10 on the 0-10 scale for the above questions.
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The full book is available in English: OECD (2026), OECD Survey on Drivers of Trust in Public Institutions 2026 Results: Navigating Rising Expectations and New Horizons, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/9eb63fec-en.
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