Trust in national institutions is falling
14:02
Trust in national institutions has declined across the EU over the past two years. Driven by increasingly difficult economic circumstances and unreliable news sources, even people who previously expressed higher trust levels – such as those in financially secure positions – have become less trusting. This is according to the fifth round of the Living, working and COVID-19 e-survey: Living in a new era of uncertainty – a report that presents an overview of responses from over 200,000 people across all five rounds of the e-survey, which took place from spring 2020 to spring 2022.
Trust in the leading national institutions has decreased by 13.4 percent since the beginning of the pandemic in spring 2020. This includes decreases in trust in national governments (-24.5 percent), healthcare systems (-10.2 percent), and the police (-8.1 percent). While trust in the police remained consistent in 2021 and 2022, both years recorded lower values than in spring 2020.
The latest round of the e-survey shows that trust in institutions has fallen among respondents struggling to make ends meet and – for the first time since the survey began – among people in more financially secure positions.
The fifth round of Eurofound's e-survey, fielded from 25 March to 2 May 2022, sheds light on the social and economic situation of people across Europe two years after COVID-19 was first detected on the European continent. It also explores the reality of living in a new era of uncertainty caused by the war in Ukraine, inflation, and rising energy prices.
(WBJ)
