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: Italy
Trust in public institutions
In 2023, 36% of Italians reported high or moderately high trust in the national government, slightly below the OECD average of 39%.
Figure 1. Trust in 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 government?”; neutral to option 5 and “low or no” to response options 0-4.
Similarly to most OECD countries, Italian people place more trust in the police (64%), other people (59%), and courts and the judicial system (43%) than in the national government (36%) and in the national civil service (35%). Around 40% of the population reports high or moderately high trust in international organizations (42%) and local government (41%). Less than one third of Italians report high or moderately high trust in the parliament (31%) and political parties (19%).
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.
Italians who feel that the current political system does not let people like them have a say tend to trust the national government 45 percentage points less than those who feel they have political voice. This trust gap is slightly below the average 47 percentage points gap across OECD countries.
Men in Italy on average are more likely to have high or moderately high trust in the national government (39%) than women do (33%). This gap is slightly smaller than the 7 percentage point average gender trust gap across OECD countries.
The difference in trust in national government between younger and older people is slightly larger than the OECD average: on average 31% of Italians aged 18-29 report high or moderately high trust in national government, compared to 41% among those aged 50 years and above; while across OECD countries the age trust gap is of 7 percentage points. Trust gaps between those with lower and higher educational attainment, and between those with and without financial concerns are significantly smaller in Italy than on average across OECD countries.
Figure 3. Share of population with high or moderately high trust in the 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 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, Italians’ satisfaction with day-to-day interactions with public institutions is below the OECD average.
A majority of Italians (51%) with recent experience with the education system are satisfied with it, compared to 57% on average across the OECD. Moreover, 48% are satisfied with the administrative services they used; this important driver of trust in the civil service is 18 percentage points lower than the OECD average (66%). Just under one in two (49%) in Italy finds it likely they would easily find information on an administrative procedure, compared to two thirds (67%) across OECD countries.
However, people in Italy find it more likely than the OECD average that public services are improved if many people complain: 45% of people in Italy find this likely, compared to the OECD average of 39%. At the same time, Italian people have a slightly more positive-than-average perception about the responsiveness of public institutions to innovative ideas: 41% of respondents find it likely that government institutions adopt innovative ideas to improve public service, compared to an OECD average of 39%.
Perceptions of integrity of public employees are low in most countries. In line with the OECD average of 36%, only 35% of Italians expect that public employees would refuse bribes to speed up service access.
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 likely, OECD and Italy, 2023
Note: The figure presents the unweighted OECD averages and values for Italy 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 of decision making on complex policy issues
Italy performs similar to or below the OECD average for a majority of measures considered on decision-making on complex policy issues. Moreover, in Italy and across the OECD, a lower share of people has positive perceptions regarding complex decision-making than about day-to-day interactions with public institutions.
One in two people in Italy (49%) are confident that government is ready to protect lives in an emergency, lower than the average of 53% across OECD countries.
In line with the OECD average of 41%, 42% of Italians find it likely that government uses best available evidence for decision making and that government can regulate new technologies appropriately.
Perceptions of government integrity are low in most countries. Around four in ten (38%) in Italy expect that politicians would refuse to grant a political favour in return for a private-sector job, a share that is 7 percentage points higher than the average across OECD countries (31%).
In contrast, only 26% of people in Italy find it likely that government would refuse a corporation’s demand that could be harmful to society as a whole, below the average across OECD countries (30%).
Only slightly above one fifth of Italians (22%) 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 8 percentage points lower than on average across OECD countries (30%). At the same time, 34% of Italians think the government would adopt opinions expressed in a public consultation, slightly above the OECD average of 32%.
Figure 5. Perceptions of government decision making on complex policy issues
Share of population who find positive action likely/are confident in the below elements, OECD and Italy, 2023
Note: The figure presents the unweighted OECD averages and values for Italy of the share of respondents who choose a response of 6-10 on the 0-10 scale for the above questions.
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