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: New Zealand
Trust in public institutions
In 2023, 46% of people in New Zealand reported high or moderately high trust in the central government, above the OECD average of 39%.
Figure 1. Trust in national/central 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/federal government?”; neutral to option 5 and “low or no” to response options 0-4.
Similarly to most OECD countries, New Zealanders place more trust in the police (71%), other people (63%) and courts and the judicial system (60%) than in the central government (46%). More than forty percent of the population reports high or moderately high trust in local government (45%) and national parliament (41%). Political parties (32%) and news media (37%) are the least trusted institutions in New Zealand.
Figure 2. Share of population with high or moderately high trust in different public institutions, other people and media, 2021 and 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.
New Zealanders who feel that the current political system does not let people like them have a say tend to trust the central government 55 percentage points less than those who feel they have political voice. This trust gap is larger than the 47 percentage points gap on average across OECD countries.
Men in New Zealand on average are more likely to have high or moderately high trust in the central government (55%) than women do (37%). This 18 percentage points gap is well above the average 7 percentage point gap, and the highest gender gap among OECD countries.
The trust gap in New Zealand between younger and older people and between people with lower and higher educational attainment are likewise larger than the OECD average. In contrast, the trust gap between those with and without financial concerns is similar in New Zealand and across the OECD.
Figure 3. Share of population with high or moderately high trust in the central 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/federal 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 almost all of the considered measures, New Zealanders’ satisfaction with day-to-day interactions with public institutions is above the OECD average.
For example, 70% are satisfied with the administrative services they used. This important driver of trust in the civil service is 4 percentage points above the OECD average (66%). However, only slightly more than half of people in New Zealand (55%) with recent experience with the education system are satisfied with it, compared to 57% on average across the OECD; and the gap in satisfaction with the healthcare system among recent users between New Zealand and the OECD average is even larger.
In New Zealand, people are more likely than the OECD average to believe that information on administrative procedures is easy to find: 76% of people in New Zealand find this likely, compared to the OECD average of 67%.
Perceptions of integrity of public employees are low in most countries: Only 42% of New Zealanders believe that public employees would refuse bribes to speed up service access, although still higher than the OECD average of 36%.
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 New Zealand, 2023
Note: The figure presents the unweighted OECD averages and values for New Zealand 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
New Zealand performs better than the OECD average in all measures of decision-making on complex policy issues. However, in New Zealand 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.
A large majority of New Zealanders (62%) find it likely that the government would be ready to protect lives in case of a national emergency, compared to 53% on average across OECD countries.
Around half of New Zealanders (49%) believe that parliament holds the government accountable, a share that is 11 percentage points higher than the average across OECD countries (38%).
Perceptions of government integrity are low in most countries: Only 34% of people in New Zealand find it likely that government would refuse a corporation’s demand that could be harmful to society as a whole, although still higher than the OECD average of 30%.
Forty-four percent of people in New Zealand 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 14 percentage points above the OECD average (30%).
Figure 5. Perceptions of government decision making on complex policy issues
Share of population who are confident in or find a positive action in the respective situation likely, OECD and New Zealand, 2023
Note: The figure presents the unweighted OECD averages and values for New Zealand of the share of respondents who choose a response of 6-10 on the 0-10 scale for the above questions.
For more information see oe.cd/trust
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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