Where Trust In Government Is Highest and Lowest

Where Trust In Government Is Highest and Lowest

Public trust in democratic governments has fallen to new lows. According to Reuters, the handling of the pandemic and a widespread sense of economic pessimism are the main reasons for the fall.

At the same time, rising scores can be visibly seen in several autocratic states, notably China.

The findings come from Edelman Research’s latest Trust Barometer which polled 36,000 people in 28 countries about their trust in various institutions in November 2021. The Edelman Trust Barometer has polled thousands of people on trust in their governments, media, business and NGOs for two decades.

Along with distrust inside of government, the USA is more divided than ever though, and the survey has revealed a mere 39 percent of the U.S. public trusted the government in late 2021 – a 3 percentage point decrease on 2020. The U.S. figure is far lower than many other countries, with trust in government in Canada and Australia standing at 53 percent and 52 percent, respectively. It is also slightly lower than the UK where the government’s Brexit strategy has proven highly controversial with public approval of the institution 42 percent in late 2021.

Some of the highest levels of trust in government were seen in Asia where 91 percent of Chinese respondents said they had trust, along with 82 percent of people polled in Saudi Arabia and 74 percent in India. The lowest rating was found in Argentina, where just 22 percent of respondents said they trusted their government there.

“We really have a collapse of trust in democracies,” said Richard Edelman, whose Edelman communications group published the survey of over 36,000 respondents in 28 countries interviewed between November 1-24, 2021.

The biggest losers of public trust over the last year were institutions in Germany, down 7 points to 46, Australia at 53 (-6), the Netherlands at 57 (-6), South Korea at 42 (-5) and the United States at 43 (-5).

By contrast, public trust in institutions in China stood at 83%, up 11 points, 76% in the United Arab Emirates (+9) and 66% in Thailand (+5).

Statista has published the following chart to illustrate how trust in government varies around the world:

Other charts, published by Edelman include the gains and declines in countries, trust differences between China and the USA and comparison between 2021 and 2022.

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