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. In Norway, data collection extended into early December.
OECD Survey on Drivers of Trust in Public Institutions 2024 Results - Country Notes: Norway
Trust in public institutions
In 2023, 48% of Norwegians reported high or moderately high trust in the national government, above the OECD average of 39%.
This number represents a decrease by 16 percentage points since 2021, the highest decrease among the eighteen OECD countries with available data.
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.
As in most OECD countries, Norwegians place more trust in the police (77%), courts and the judicial system (77%) and other people (76%) than in the national government. Around half of the population reports high or moderately high trust in the national civil service (54%), national parliament (54%), and local government (51%). Although above OECD averages, news media (49%) and political parties (36%) are the least trusted institutions.
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.
Norwegians who feel that the current political system doesn’t let people like them have a say tend to trust the national government 50 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.
Norway is one of the three countries, together with Estonia and Iceland, where women are more likely to have high or moderately high trust in the national government (50%) than men do (45%). On average across OECD countries women trust the national government 7 percentage points less than men.
In Norway, having a university degree is associated with 20 percentage points higher trust compared to those who did not complete studies beyond lower secondary education, while this gap is of 13 percentage points on average across OECD countries. Similarly, Norwegians with higher financial concerns tend to trust government 25 percentage points less than those with lower financial concerns. This trust gap is of 17 percentage points 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 half of the considered measures, Norwegians’ satisfaction with day-to-day interactions with public institutions is above the OECD average, while it is below OECD average for the other half.
A large majority of Norwegians (71%) are satisfied with the administrative services they used, an important driver of trust in the civil service, above the OECD average (66%). Nearly six in ten (59%) who came into recent contact with the healthcare system are satisfied with it, compared to 52% across the OECD; while the share among recent users who are satisfied with the education system (54%) is slightly below the OECD average (57%).
Norwegians find it more likely than people across the OECD that public employees would refuse bribes to speed up service access: 56% of people in Norway find this likely, compared to the OECD average of 36%.
In contrast, only 26% of Norwegians expect that they have the opportunity to voice opinions on local matters, lower than the OECD average of 41%.
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 Norway, 2023
Note: The figure presents the unweighted OECD averages and values for Norway 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
Norway performs similar to the OECD average in almost all measures of decision making on complex policy issues. However, in Norway and across the OECD, a lower share of people has positive perceptions regarding complex decision-making than regarding day-to-day interactions with public institutions.
A large majority of Norwegians (59%) are confident that government would be ready to protect lives in case of a national emergency, compared to 53% on average across OECD countries.
Perceptions of government integrity are low in most countries: Nearly four in ten (39%) Norwegians expect that government would refuse requests from corporations that harm public interest, a share that is 9 percentage points higher than the average across OECD countries (30%).
Norwegians find it slightly more likely than the OECD average that the government uses the best available evidence in decision-making: 44% of people in Norway thinks it likely, compared to 41% in OECD.
About one third (35%) of Norwegians 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 5 percentage points higher than the average across OECD countries (30%).
In contrast, only 28% of people in Norway find it likely that government uses inputs from citizens’ consultation, lower than the average across OECD countries (32%).
Figure 5. Perceptions of government decision making on complex policy issues
Share of population who are confident ins or find a positive action in the respective situation likely, OECD and Norway, 2023
Note: The figure presents the unweighted OECD averages and values for Norway 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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