Irish people trust other people much more than they trust the Government, OECD survey shows

Ireland was joint lowest with Slovakia (26%) for the percentage of respondents with recent access to healthcare services who reported being satisfied with that service. Picture: Patrick Bolger/Bloomberg g

Irish people are the most trusting in others compared to people across 29 other countries, but rank lowest in terms of satisfaction with the healthcare system.

New analysis from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows 83% of people in Ireland report high or moderately high trust in most people, which is the highest of any other country that took part in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) trust survey for 2023.

This compared to just 47% of people who had a high level of trust in others in Czechia and 54% of people in Germany.

Ireland also ranked highest in terms of having trust in its civil service, at 66% of people, followed by Iceland (64%) and Finland (62%). This compared to just 24% in Chile.

It was more of a mixed bag when it came to trust in other institutions, with fewer than half (47%) of respondents reporting trust in national government. This compared to 61% in Switzerland but was far higher than the 26% of people in the UK reporting trust in the Government.

Ireland had the highest percentage of respondents who reported high or moderately high trust in most people in 2023 when compared with other OECD countrieshttps://t.co/IlNo4s0LCJ#CSOIreland #Ireland #OECD #TrustSurvey #InternationalComparisons pic.twitter.com/QilRjjC8W0

— Central Statistics Office Ireland (@CSOIreland) October 23, 2024

CSO statistician Caragh Stapleton said: “The United Kingdom had the lowest percentage (12%) of respondents reporting high or moderately high trust in political parties when compared with other participant countries.

“In Ireland, 26% of respondents reported high or moderately high trust in political parties.” 

Similarly, the UK had the lowest percentage of people reporting high or moderately high trust in the news media (19%). This compared to 47% of people in Ireland, which was similar to countries such as Norway and Sweden.

Furthermore, 70% of people in Ireland report a high or moderately high level of trust in the gardaí. Finland had the highest level at 87%, compared to 39% in Colombia.

However, there was what the CSO called “striking trends” in the satisfaction for different public services in Ireland compared with the other surveyed OECD countries.

Ireland ranked seventh highest out of the 30 countries among people who had recent access to the education system and were satisfied in the service. Again, Finland was on top here, with Greece the lowest.

“By contrast, Ireland was joint lowest with Slovakia (26%) for the percentage of respondents with recent access to healthcare services who reported being satisfied with that service,” Ms Stapleton said.

“The highest scoring data here was from Belgium, with more than 80% of respondents reporting satisfaction with their healthcare system.” 

Ireland also ranked at the lower end when respondents were asked if they were satisfied with their interaction with administrative services, such as applying for a passport, registering a birth or applying for benefits.

Just over half (51%) of people here indicated satisfaction compared to more than 80% in Switzerland, Finland, Estonia and Luxembourg, while Portugal ranked lowest at 42%.