Public trust in government was limited across OECD surveyed countries in 2023: 39% reported high or moderately high trust in their national government, while 44% reported low or no trust. Trust was higher in several public institutions, including the police, courts and the civil service.
Contents
- OECD-wide trust levels
- How trust differs between groups
- The United Kingdom in 2023
- Trust in UK institutions
- Political voice and trust
- Selected country comparisons
OECD-wide trust levels
The OECD Trust Survey 2024 Results measured reported trust across OECD surveyed countries in 2023. The results distinguish between high or moderately high trust and low or no trust. They describe people’s reported views, rather than an administrative measure of institutional performance.
National government received high or moderately high trust from 39% of people. By comparison, 44% reported low or no trust in their national government. These figures leave a sizeable share in neither of those two headline categories, so the two percentages should not be treated as a complete two-way split of every response.
Trust varied substantially by institution:
| Institution | High or moderately high trust, 2023 |
|---|---|
| Police | 63% |
| Courts and judicial system | 54% |
| Local government | 45% |
| Civil service | 45% |
| National government | 39% |
| National parliaments | 37% |
| Political parties | 24% |
The police had the highest reported trust of the institutions listed, at 63%. Courts and the judicial system followed at 54%. Local government and the civil service each reached 45%, six percentage points above national government. National parliaments stood at 37%, while political parties had the lowest figure in this comparison, at 24%.
This pattern places political parties 39 percentage points below the police. It also shows that trust in national government was not the same as trust in the wider public administration: the civil service was reported at 45%, compared with 39% for national government.
How trust differs between groups
The OECD Government at a Glance 2025 figures show wide differences in reported national-government trust between social and economic groups across OECD surveyed countries in 2023.
People with financial concerns reported 35% high or moderately high trust in national government. Among people without financial concerns, the figure was 52%. The reported difference between these groups was 17 percentage points.
Education was also associated with different reported trust levels. People with lower education attainment reported 33% high or moderately high trust, compared with 46% among highly educated people. That is a 13-percentage-point difference in the reported figures.
People who described themselves as belonging to a discriminated-against group reported 30% high or moderately high trust in national government. Among people who did not identify as belonging to such a group, the figure was 43%, a difference of 13 percentage points.
There was also a gender difference in the OECD Trust Survey 2024 Results. In 2023, 36% of women reported high or moderately high trust in national government, compared with 43% of men. The reported gap was 7 percentage points.
Taken together, these results show that the overall OECD figure of 39% masks differences between groups. Reported trust was lower among people with financial concerns, people with lower education attainment and people who identified as belonging to a discriminated-against group. The gender figures also differed, although by a smaller margin than the financial-concern comparison.
The United Kingdom in 2023
The OECD United Kingdom country note reported that 27% of people in the United Kingdom had high or moderately high trust in the national government in 2023. This was below the 39% figure across OECD surveyed countries in the same year.
The UK country note also reported a different education pattern from the OECD-wide comparison. In the United Kingdom, 30% of lower-educated people reported high or moderately high trust in national government, compared with 23% of highly educated people. The lower-educated figure was therefore 7 percentage points higher in the UK country figures.
The country note included trust in other people as well as trust in public institutions. In the United Kingdom, 70% reported high or moderately high trust in other people in 2023. That was higher than every institutional trust figure listed in the UK comparison below.
The UK figure for trust in national government should be read with its measurement year and geography attached: it refers to reported views in the United Kingdom in 2023, not to a current-year estimate or to the whole of Europe.
Trust in UK institutions
Trust varied sharply across institutions in the United Kingdom in 2023, according to the OECD United Kingdom country note.
- Courts and the judicial system: 62% reported high or moderately high trust.
- Police: 56% reported high or moderately high trust.
- National civil service: 45% reported high or moderately high trust.
- Local government: 34% reported high or moderately high trust.
- National parliament: 24% reported high or moderately high trust.
- News media: 19% reported high or moderately high trust.
- Political parties: 12% reported high or moderately high trust.
Courts and the judicial system had the highest institutional figure in the UK list, at 62%, followed by the police at 56%. The national civil service was at 45%, while local government was at 34%. National parliament was at 24%, three percentage points below national government’s 27% figure.
The lowest figures were reported for news media and political parties. At 19%, news media was 43 percentage points below courts and the judicial system. Political parties were at 12%, which was 50 percentage points below courts and the judicial system and 15 percentage points below national government.
These comparisons concern reported trust, and each percentage refers to the United Kingdom in 2023. They do not establish why one institution received a higher or lower response than another.
Political voice and trust
The OECD Government at a Glance 2025 results connect reported trust with whether people feel able to influence government decisions. Across OECD surveyed countries in 2023, 69% of people who felt they had a voice in government decisions reported high or moderately high trust in national government. Among people who felt they lacked a voice, the figure was 22%.
The reported difference between those two groups was 47 percentage points. The same source gave an OECD average trust gap of 25 percentage points between people with and without confidence in their ability to participate in politics. These are related but differently stated measures, so the 47-point comparison and the 25-point average gap should not be merged into one statistic.
The country notes show similarly large differences in selected countries. In the United Kingdom, people who felt the political system did not let people like them have a say trusted the national government 41 percentage points less than people who felt they had political voice.
In Germany, the corresponding difference was 54 percentage points. In Canada, people who felt the political system did not let people like them have a say trusted the federal government 58 percentage points less than people who felt they had political voice. In Denmark, the national-government difference was also 58 percentage points, while in New Zealand the central-government difference was 55 percentage points.
The wording and level of government differ across these country notes: the UK and Germany figures refer to national government, Canada refers to the federal government, Denmark refers to national government, and New Zealand refers to central government. Keeping those descriptions attached is important when comparing the reported gaps.
Selected country comparisons
The OECD country notes provide additional 2023 figures for Germany, Canada, Denmark and New Zealand. They are useful context, but they are not a complete ranking of European countries or OECD members.
| Country and measure | High or moderately high trust, 2023 |
|---|---|
| Germany: men, national government | 41% |
| Germany: women, national government | 32% |
| Canada: local government | 54% |
| Canada: federal civil service | 54% |
| Canada: news media | 50% |
| Denmark: national parliament | 47% |
| Denmark: local government | 47% |
| Denmark: national civil service | 44% |
| New Zealand: central government | 46% |
| New Zealand: police | 71% |
| New Zealand: other people | 63% |
| New Zealand: courts and judicial system | 60% |
| New Zealand: local government | 45% |
| New Zealand: national parliament | 41% |
In Germany, 41% of men and 32% of women reported high or moderately high trust in national government, a 9-percentage-point difference. The Germany country note also reported a 54-point trust difference associated with whether people felt the political system let people like them have a say.
Canada’s country note reported 54% trust in local government and 54% in the federal civil service. News media reached 50%. It also reported that 69% were satisfied with the administrative services they used, while 46% said the federal parliament balanced the needs of different groups in society. These are satisfaction or assessment measures, not the same measure as institutional trust.
Denmark recorded 47% trust in the national parliament and 47% in local government, while 44% reported high or moderately high trust in the national civil service. The Denmark note reported a 58-point difference associated with perceived political voice.
New Zealand’s country note reported 46% trust in central government, 71% in the police, 63% in other people, 60% in courts and the judicial system, 45% in local government and 41% in the national parliament. It also reported a 55-point difference between people who felt the political system did not let people like them have a say and those who felt they had political voice.
Because these figures cover different institutions and, in some cases, different types of measure, they should be used as clearly labelled comparisons rather than as a single league table of public trust.