The OECD Trust Survey explores people’s perceptions of different public institutions in their country and the degree to which they trust their government. These perceptions range from day-to-day interactions with public institutions to decision making on complex policy issues. Initiated in 2021, the Trust Survey was carried out in 30 OECD countries in October and November 2023, with results representative of their respective adult populations.
OECD Survey on Drivers of Trust in Public Institutions 2024 Results - Country Notes: Greece
Trust in public institutions
In 2023, 32% of Greek people reported high or moderately high trust in the central government, below the OECD average of 39%.
Figure 1. Trust in central/national government, 2023
Share of population who indicate different levels of trust in their national government (on a 0-10 scale), 2023
Note: ‘High or moderately high’ corresponds to the aggregation of response options 6-10 to the question “On a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 is not at all and 10 is completely, how much do you trust the national/central government?”; neutral to option 5 and “low or no” to response options 0-4.
As in most OECD countries, Greeks place more trust in other people (54%), the police (51%), and courts and the judicial system (47%) than in the central government (32%). Fewer than 40% of Greeks reports high or moderately high trust in local government (39%), parliament (32%) and the national civil service (31%). News media (22%) and political parties (17%) are the least trusted institutions in Greece.
Figure 2. Share of population with high or moderately high trust in different public institutions, other people and media, 2023
Note: ‘High or moderately high’ corresponds to the aggregation of response options 6-10 to the question “On a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 is not at all and 10 is completely, how much do you trust [institution]?”; neutral to option 5 and “low or no” to response options 0-4.
People in Greece who feel that the current political system does not let people like them have a say tend to trust the central government 46 percentage points less than those who feel they have political voice. This trust gap is similar to the 47 percentage points gap across OECD countries.
Men in Greece on average are more likely to have high or moderately high trust in the central government (36%) than women do (28%), slightly above the 7 percentage point average gender trust gap across OECD countries.
The trust gaps in Greece between people with and without financial concerns and between younger and older are above the OECD average; while the trust gap between those with lower and higher educational attainment is below the OECD average.
Figure 3. Share of population with high or moderately high trust in the central/national government by population group, 2023
Note: ‘High or moderately high’ corresponds to the aggregation of response options 6-10 to the question “On a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 is not at all and 10 is completely, how much do you trust the national/central government?”; neutral to option 5 and “low or no” to response options 0-4.
Perceptions of the public governance drivers of trust
Perceptions of day-to-day interactions with public institutions
For most of the considered measures, Greek people’s satisfaction with day-to-day interactions with public institutions is worse than the OECD average.
Less than one-third (30%) of Greeks with recent experience with the healthcare system are satisfied with it, compared to 52% on average across the OECD. Moreover, 54% are satisfied with the administrative services they used, an important driver of trust in the civil service, compared to a 66% OECD average.
Greeks find it about equally likely as the OECD average that public services are improved after complaints: 40% of people in Greece find this likely, compared to an average of 39% of people across OECD countries.
Perceptions of the integrity of public employees are low in most countries: Only 24% of people in Greece find it likely that a public employee would refuse a bribe to speed up service access, compared to 36% of people on average across the OECD.
Figure 4. Perceptions of day-to-day interactions between the population and public institutions
Share of population who are satisfied with public services or find a positive action in the respective situation likely, OECD and Greece, 2023
Note: The figure presents the unweighted OECD averages and values for Greece of the share of respondents who choose a response of 6-10 on the 0-10 scale for the above questions. Satisfaction with public services is restricted to recent service users.
Perceptions on decision making on complex policy issues
Greece performs worse than the OECD average in almost all measures of decision making on complex policy issues. Moreover, in Greece and across the OECD, a lower share of people have positive perceptions regarding complex decision-making than regarding day-to-day interactions with public institutions.
Four in ten Greeks (40%) find it likely that government regulate new technologies appropriately, similar to the 41% OECD average.
Perceptions of government integrity are low in most countries: Around one third of Greek people (32%) expect that politicians would refuse to provide a political favour in return for a well-paid private sector job, a share that is slightly above the OECD average (31%). Similarly, only 24% of people in Greece find it likely that governments would refuse requests from corporations that harm public interest, compared to 30% of people on average across the OECD.
About one in five (21%) Greeks believe that the political system allows people like them to have a say in what government does. This important driver of trust in the national government is 9 percentage points lower than on average across OECD countries (30%).
Figure 5. Perceptions of government decision making on complex policy issues
Share of population who find positive action likely or find a positive action in the respective situation likely, OECD and Greece, 2023
Note: The figure presents the unweighted OECD averages and values for Greece of the share of respondents who choose a response of 6-10 on the 0-10 scale for the above questions. Satisfaction with public services is restricted to recent service users.
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This work is published under the responsibility of the Secretary-General of the OECD. The opinions expressed and arguments employed herein do not necessarily reflect the official views of the Member countries of the OECD.
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