A cohesive society is one where citizens have confidence in national (and sub-national) level institutions and believe that social and economic institutions are not subjected to corruption. Confidence and corruption issues are dimensions that are strongly related to societal trust.
Confidence in the national government is higher in the Asia/Pacific region than among OECD countries (Figure 7.4): Australians, Japanese, Koreans and New Zealanders have less confidence in their national governments than most of their Asian/Pacific peers. In Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, more than 90% of respondents have confidence in their national governments. Confidence is lowest in Armenia, Korea, and Mongolia with only 20 to 30% of people reporting trusting their national governments. The variation in confidence rates between youth and the adult population tends to be higher in countries with low overall confidence rates.
On average, across the Asia/Pacific region, confidence in the national government has changed little over the past decade, but there is high variation in trends across countries (Figure 7.4). Over the past decade, trust in government declined by more than 30 percentage points in Sri Lanka, while it increased by more than 20 percentage points in India and Pakistan.
People in Asia/Pacific countries tend to have higher levels of confidence in most national institutions (e.g. judicial system, financial institutions, and military), when compared to OECD countries (Figure 7.5). Citizens in the Asia/Pacific region have the most confidence in the military and the least in the judicial system. The lowest level of confidence in the military is found in Hong Kong (China), and Mongolia (below 60%) while it is highest is in Azerbaijan (98%).
In richer countries, people tend to perceive relatively low levels of corruption in government (Figure 7.6). In Lao PDR, New Zealand and especially Singapore, citizens perceive the lowest levels of corruption. In Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan and Pakistan close to or over 80% of people think corruption in government is widespread.
