The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Trust Survey monitors people’s self-reported interpersonal trust and trust in different institutions and levels of government. The OECD Trust Survey included 38 participant countries in 2025. Respondents to the Trust Survey were asked to rate their trust levels in different government organisations and public institutions in their countries on a 0-10-point scale from ‘0 Not at all’ to ‘10 Completely’. In line with the OECD’s recommended groupings, responses were grouped as ‘Low or no trust (0-4)’, ‘Neutral (5)’, or ‘High or moderately high trust (6-10)’. Respondents were asked about their degree of trust in the following institutions:
Satisfaction with three aspects of public services was also examined in the Trust Survey. These included Satisfaction with the Education System, Satisfaction with the Healthcare System and Satisfaction with the Quality of Administrative Services. Examples of administrative services included applying for an ID, registering a birth or applying for benefits. Respondents were asked to rate their satisfaction in these public services on a scale of 0-10. In line with the OECD recommended groupings, responses were grouped as 'Not satisfied (0-4)', 'Neutral (5)' or 'Satisfied (6-10)'.
In 2023, 30 countries participated in the Trust Survey. In 2025, 38 countries participated in the survey. Thus, comparisons of rankings or OECD averages between 2023 and 2025 are to be treated with caution. Only countries who participated in 2023 and 2025 are included in the OECD averages.
Respondents were asked to rate their trust in National Government. In 2025, Switzerland had the highest percentage of respondents who reported trust in National Government (62%), followed by Iceland (59%). The country with the lowest percentage of respondents reporting trust in National Government was Bulgaria (16%). In 2025, 44% of Irish respondents reported trust in National Government, compared to 47% in 2023.
In 2025, Slovenia (26%), Bulgaria (26%), Greece (28%) and Peru (29%) ranked lowest for the percentage of respondents who reported trust in Local Government. Switzerland (68%), Finland (62%) and Luxembourg (62%) ranked highest for trust in Local Government. In 2023, Switzerland ranked highest, with 63% of respondents reporting trust in Local Government. In Ireland in 2025, 44% of respondents reported trust in Local Government, a 3% increase on the 2023 figure (41%).
Out of the 38 countries included in the 2025 Trust Survey, Ireland ranked eighth highest (46%) for the percentage of respondents who reported trust in National Parliament. The percentage of respondents who reported trust in National Parliament ranged from 13% in Bulgaria to 61% in Switzerland. In 2023, Luxembourg ranked highest for trust in National Parliament (57%), followed by Switzerland (56%). In 2023, the lowest percentage of respondents who reported trust in National Parliament was in Chile (19%).
For almost all countries surveyed in 2025, a lower percentage of respondents reported trust in Political Parties when compared to trust in Local Government, National Government, or National Parliament. The only exception was Peru, where 15% of respondents reported trust in National Parliament, compared to 17% for Political Parties. The percentage of respondents who reported trust in Political Parties ranged from 10% in Bulgaria to 49% in Switzerland in 2025. In Ireland, 27% of respondents reported trust in Political Parties.
The percentage of respondents who reported trust in the Police ranged from 25% in Bulgaria to 89% in Finland in 2025, with at least half of respondents in most countries reporting trust in the Police. In Ireland, 70% of respondents reported trust in the Gardaí, the same figure as in 2023. Similar levels of trust in the Police were reported in New Zealand (71%), Estonia (70%) and Sweden (69%). The lowest percentage of respondents who reported trust in the Police were in Bulgaria (25%), Peru (32%), Poland (46%) and Romania (46%).
The percentage of respondents who reported trust in the National Civil Service was highest in Finland (69%), Iceland (68%) and Ireland (64%) in 2025. Countries with the lowest percentage of respondents who reported trust in the National Civil Service were Bulgaria (15%), Peru (19%) and Chile (20%). In Ireland, the percentage of respondents who reported trust in the National Civil Service decreased from 67% in 2023 to 64% in 2025.
In 2025, at least seven in ten respondents in Denmark (77%), Norway (76%), Finland (75%), Luxembourg (73%), Switzerland (72%) and the Netherlands (70%) reported trust in the Courts and Judicial System. Less than one in three respondents reported trust in the Courts and Judicial System in Colombia (33%), Slovakia (32%), Croatia (29%), Chile (24%), Peru (23%) and Bulgaria (20%). In the United Kingdom, 55% of respondents reported trust in the Courts and Judicial System compared to Ireland at 68% in 2025.
In 2025, the percentage of respondents who reported trust in the News Media ranged from 19% in Greece to 64% in Finland. Ireland had a similar percentage of respondents (46%) reporting trust in the News Media as Australia (45%), New Zealand (45%), Sweden (46%) and Norway (47%). Ireland had the ninth highest percentage of respondents who reported trust in the News Media, when compared to other participant countries in 2025.
The percentage of respondents who reported trust in International Organisations, such as the United Nations, ranged from 28% in Chile to 64% in Mexico, across the countries surveyed. Ireland had the fourth highest percentage of respondents (57%) who reported trust in International Organisations, Denmark was second at 60% and Finland was third at 59%.
The OECD average score for each trust level indicator was an unweighted average of the weighted scores from each country. The OECD average refers to OECD countries for which data is available in 2023 and 2025. Care should be taken when interpreting the average scores as some national questionnaires did not contain questions related to some of the trust indicators.
For the OECD report, people who had recent access to the education system, healthcare system, and quality of administrative services were asked to rank their satisfaction level on a scale of '0 Not at all' to '10 Completely'. Those with a score of 6-10 were grouped as satisfied. People with recent access to the education system were those who answered yes to the question 'In the last 2 years, have you or somebody in your household been enrolled in an educational institution in [country]?'. People with recent access to the healthcare system were those who answered yes to the question 'In the last 12 months, have you or somebody in your household personally made use of the healthcare system in [country]?'. People with recent access to administrative services were those who answered yes to the question 'In the last 12 months, have you personally made use of administrative services in [country] (for example, applying for a passport, registering a birth, or applying for benefits etc.)?'.
In 2025, the countries with the highest percentage of respondents who were satisfied with the education system in their country were Switzerland (87%), Finland (85%), Norway (78%) and Denmark (78%). In contrast, less than a third of respondents were satisfied with the education system in Peru (33%), Greece (33%) and Bulgaria (32%). Ireland ranked ninth highest for the percentage of respondents who indicated being satisfied in the education system (68%) when compared to other participating countries, similar to the United Kingdom at 69%.
At least three quarters of respondents in Luxembourg (80%), Switzerland (79%), Denmark (76%), and Belgium (75%) were satisfied with the healthcare system in their country in 2025. In comparison, at least six in ten respondents were not satisfied with the healthcare system in Bulgaria (63%), Peru (62%) and Columbia (60%). In Ireland, 32% of respondents were satisfied with the healthcare system in 2025, compared to 55% of respondents in the United Kingdom.
The percentage of respondents who reported being satisfied with the quality of administrative services in their country ranged from 39% for Peru to 86% for Luxembourg across the countries surveyed. Finland (84%), Switzerland (82%) and Estonia (81%) indicated some of the highest percentage of respondents who were satisfied with the quality of administrative services with more than eight in ten respondents indicating satisfaction. In Ireland, 68% of respondents were satisfied with the administrative services in Ireland, similar to Poland at 68%.
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