Level of trust in most people down, figures show

The overall level of trust in most people decreased between 2023 and 2025, according to the figures released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

In 2025, nearly eight in ten respondents (78.7%) had reported they trusted most people, which was down from 82.5% in 2023.

When it came to specific sectors, younger generations were more likely to trust the electoral system than older people. Figures show that 82.8% of those aged 18 to 29 trusted the electoral system, compared with 76.9% of those aged 50 and over.

Satisfaction in the healthcare system was low, with 37.2% of men being satisfied with it, while 27.4% of women were satisfied with it.

Just 39% of respondents believed that the government would provide appropriate support to people in the event of an economic crisis, while 48.1% thought it would be likely.

Half of the respondents said they were not confident in the government’s future use of AI in providing services that were better tailored to people’s needs, 33% were confident.

Sarah Crilly, Statistician in the Social Cohesion and Sustainable Development Goals Division, said: “This is the third Trust Survey, with previous surveys conducted in 2023 and 2021. Respondents to the Trust Survey 2025 were asked to rate their trust in people, government, and public institutions on a scale of 0 (Not at all) to 10 (Completely). In this release, trust levels were grouped as Don’t trust (0-4), Neutral (5), or Trust (6-10).

“Overall, when it comes to trust, our analysis shows that a higher percentage of respondents had trust in most people when compared with trust in other institutions that were included in the survey, such as political parties, the civil service, or the news media.

In 2025, 78.7% of respondents trusted most people, down from 82.5% in 2023. Trust in the electoral system was ranked next highest in 2025, with 77.3% of respondents trusting the electoral system. The percentage of respondents who trusted the courts and the legal system (68.2%) and the Gardaí (69.5%) were similar in 2025 and was largely unchanged from 2023. Trust in the civil service was down from 66.5% in 2023 to 64.2% in 2025.

A similar proportion of respondents trusted the national government (43.8%), the local government (44.2%), the Oireachtas (45.9%), and the news media (46.0%). Levels of trust in the national government were higher among older respondents, with those aged 50 years and over more likely to report trust than younger age groups. However, trust among this cohort fell from 58.3% in 2023 to 51.1% in 2025. By comparison, trust among respondents aged 18 to 29 years increased from 31.4% to 36.3% during the same period, narrowing the gap between younger and older age groups.

Trust in international organisations, such as the United Nations, decreased from 63.7% in 2023 to 57.4% in 2025. The largest regional decline was seen in the Eastern and Midlands region, where the percentage of respondents expressing trust fell from 66.8% to 57.7% over the same period.”