Updated OECD Guidelines on Measuring Trust and Trust Drivers in Public Institutions

Trust in public institutions is an important indicator of how people perceive the quality of government institutions. Measuring people’s perceptions of institutional competence and values allows insights into how to strengthen trust in these institutions. The Updated OECD Guidelines on Measuring Trust and Trust Drivers in Public Institutions are intended to assist National Statistical Offices and international organisations in collecting these data, thereby contributing to comparable governance statistics that can help inform trust-enhancing policy decisions. They build on the 2017 OECD Guidelines on Measuring Trust as well as the knowledge gained over the past decade, including through the implementation of the OECD Survey on Drivers of Trust in Public Institutions. The updated guidelines highlight the transition of trust as an experimental measure to more formalised standards for cross-country comparable statistics and provide advice on how to collect trust-related data ensuring statistical quality based on the OECD’s Quality Framework and Guidelines for OECD Statistical Activities.