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. It is worth noting that the survey was conducted during a significant political crisis in Portugal that led to the calling of national and regional elections, which may be linked to the decrease in trust observed in the entire political system in the country and reflected in certain survey results.
OECD Survey on Drivers of Trust in Public Institutions 2024 Results - Country Notes: Portugal
Trust in public institutions
In 2023, 32% of Portuguese people reported high or moderately high trust in the central government, below the OECD average of 39%.
This number represents a decrease by 9 percentage points since 2021, compared to an average decrease of 2.4 percentage points among the eighteen OECD countries with available data..
Figure 1. Trust in national/central government, 2023
Share of population who indicate different levels of trust in their national/central 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, Portuguese people place more trust in the police (65%), other people (57%) and courts and the judicial system (45%) than in the central government. Around 40% of the Portuguese population reports high or moderately high trust in the national civil service (43%) and news media (39%). Political parties (18%) and national parliament (31%) are the least trusted institution in Portugal.
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.
Portuguese people who feel that the current political system does not let people like them have a say tend to trust the central government 49 percentage points less than those who feel they have political voice. This trust gap is slightly larger than the 47 percentage points gap on average across OECD countries.
Men in Portugal 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 Portuguese trust gap between people with and without financial concerns is below the OECD average, while the trust gap between older and younger people is above the OECD average. The trust gap between those with lower and higher educational attainment is similar in Portugal compared to the OECD average.
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 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 all the considered measures, Portuguese’ satisfaction with day-to-day interactions with government is below the OECD average.
Half of Portuguese people (50%) with recent experience with the education system are satisfied with it, compared to 52% on average across the OECD. Moreover, 43% are satisfied with the administrative services they used, an important driver of trust in the civil service, compared to a 66% OECD average.
The share of people in Portugal who find it likely that public services are improved after complaints is similar to the average across the OECD: 37% of people in Portugal find this likely, compared to the OECD average of 39%.
Perceptions of integrity of public employees are low in most countries: Only 23% of Portuguese expect that public employees would refuse bribes to speed up service access, lower 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 Portugal, 2023
Note: The figure presents the unweighted OECD averages and values for Portugal 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
Portugal performs below the OECD average on many measures of decision-making on complex policy issues. Moreover, in Portugal 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.
In Portugal 43% of people are confident that their country will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, in line with the average across OECD countries (42%).
Perceptions of government integrity are low in most countries: A third of Portuguese people (33%) expect that government would refuse requests from corporations that harm public interest, a share that is 3 percentage points higher than the average across OECD countries (30%). Additionally, only 26% of people in Portugal find it likely that a politician would refuse to grant a political favour in return for a well-paid private sector job, lower than the average across OECD countries (31%).
24% of people in Portugal 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 6 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 are confident in or find positive action in the respective situation likely, OECD and Portugal, 2023
Note: The figure presents the unweighted OECD averages and values for Portugal 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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