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: Slovenia
Trust in public institutions
In 2023, 28% of Slovenians reported high or moderately high trust in the national government, 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.
As in most OECD countries, Slovenians place more trust in other people (58%), the police (52%) and courts and the judicial system (41%) than in the national government. Around a third of the population reports high or moderately high trust in local government (38%) and the national civil service (30%). Political parties (14%) and news media (26%) are the least trusted institutions in Slovenia.
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 [public institution]?”; neutral to option 5 and “low or no” to response options 0-4. In Slovenia, the regional instead refers to the local civil service.
Slovenians who feel that the current political system does not let people like them have a say tend to trust the national government 42 percentage points less than those who feel they have political voice. This trust gap is smaller than the 47 percentage points gap on average across OECD countries.
Men in Slovenia on average are more likely to have high or moderately high trust in the national government (30%) than women do (25%). The gender trust gap in Slovenia is slightly below the 7 percentage point average across OECD countries.
The Slovenian trust gaps between those with and without financial concerns and those with lower and higher educational attainment are below the OECD average. The trust gap between older and younger people in Slovenia (17 percentage point) is well above the OECD average (7 percentage points).
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, Slovenians’ satisfaction with day-to-day interactions with public institutions is below the OECD average.
A majority of Slovenians (57%) with recent experience with the education system are satisfied with it, equal to the average satisfaction across OECD countries. Likewise, two thirds (66%) in both Slovenia and on average across the OECD are satisfied with the administrative services they used, an important driver of trust in the civil service.
Slovenians find it somewhat less likely than the OECD average that information on administrative procedures is easy to find: 62% of people in Slovenia find this likely, compared to the OECD average of 67%.
Perceptions of integrity of public employees are low in most countries: Only 24% of Slovenians 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 Slovenia, 2023
Note: The figure presents the unweighted OECD averages and values for Slovenia 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
Slovenia performs worse than the OECD average in almost all measures of decision-making on complex policy issues. Moreover, in Slovenia 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. .
Almost half of Slovenians (47%) find it likely that government is ready to protect lives in an emergency, although still below the 53% on average across OECD countries.
Perceptions of integrity of public employees are low in most countries: Around a third of Slovenians (31%) expect politicians to refuse to grant a political favour in return for a well-paid private sector job, a share that is equal to the average across OECD countries (31%).
In contrast, only 15% of Slovenians 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 is15 percentage points lower than on average across OECD countries (30%).
Additionally, only 24% of people in Slovenia find it likely that government balances interests of current and future generations, lower than the average across OECD countries (37%).
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 Slovenia, 2023
Note: The figure presents the unweighted OECD averages and values for Slovenia 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
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