Trust is the social glue that binds communities, shapes institutions, and fuels economic activity.

The infographic below, via Visual Capitalist’s Pallavi Rao, ranks 90 economies by the share of adults who agree that “most people can be trusted,” using nationally representative survey data from 2022, published 2024.

The data for this visualization comes from Integrated Values Surveys, accessed via Our World in Data.

Ranked: Most and Least Trusting Countries

Denmark leads with 74% of respondents saying that most people can be trusted, followed closely by Norway (72%) and Finland (68%).

Rank
Country
Code
(%) Agree with
“Most people can
be trusted.”
1
🇩🇰 Denmark
DNK
74
2
🇳🇴 Norway
NOR
72
3
🇫🇮 Finland
FIN
68
4
🇨🇳 China
CHN
63
5
🇸🇪 Sweden
SWE
63
6
🇮🇸 Iceland
ISL
62
7
🇨🇭 Switzerland
CHE
59
8
🇳🇱 Netherlands
NLD
57
9
🇳🇿 New Zealand
NZL
57
10
🇦🇹 Austria
AUT
50
11
🇦🇺 Australia
AUS
49
12
🇨🇦 Canada
CAN
47
13
🇬🇧 UK
GBR
43
14
🇩🇪 Germany
DEU
42
15
🇲🇴 Macao
MAC
41
16
🇪🇸 Spain
ESP
41
17
🇧🇾 Belarus
BLR
40
18
🇬🇧 Northern Ireland
GBR
39
19
🇺🇸 U.S.
USA
37
20
🇭🇰 Hong Kong
HKG
36
21
🇸🇬 Singapore
SGP
34
22
🇪🇪 Estonia
EST
34
23
🇯🇵 Japan
JPN
34
24
🇺🇿 Uzbekistan
UZB
34
25
🇰🇷 South Korea
KOR
33
26
🇱🇹 Lithuania
LTU
32
27
🇹🇼 Taiwan
TWN
31
28
🇹🇭 Thailand
THA
29
29
🇺🇦 Ukraine
UKR
28
30
🇨🇿 Czechia
CZE
27
31
🇭🇺 Hungary
HUN
27
32
🇮🇹 Italy
ITA
27
33
🇦🇿 Azerbaijan
AZE
26
34
🇫🇷 France
FRA
26
35
🇲🇳 Mongolia
MNG
26
36
🇦🇩 Andorra
AND
25
37
🇸🇮 Slovenia
SVN
25
38
🇵🇱 Poland
POL
24
39
🇵🇰 Pakistan
PAK
23
40
🇷🇺 Russia
RUS
23
41
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan
KAZ
23
42
🇱🇻 Latvia
LVA
22
43
🇲🇪 Montenegro
MNE
22
44
🇸🇰 Slovakia
SVK
22
45
🇲🇻 Maldives
MDV
21
46
🇹🇯 Tajikistan
TJK
21
47
🇲🇾 Malaysia
MYS
20
48
🇦🇷 Argentina
ARG
19
49
🇬🇹 Guatemala
GTM
18
50
🇵🇷 Puerto Rico
PRI
18
51
🇦🇲 Armenia
ARM
18
52
🇧🇬 Bulgaria
BGR
17
53
🇮🇳 India
IND
17
54
🇵🇹 Portugal
PRT
17
55
🇲🇦 Morocco
MAR
17
56
🇷🇸 Serbia
SRB
16
57
🇯🇴 Jordan
JOR
16
58
🇲🇲 Myanmar
MMR
15
59
🇲🇰 North Macedonia
MKD
15
60
🇮🇷 Iran
IRN
15
61
🇺🇾 Uruguay
URY
14
62
🇻🇪 Venezuela
VEN
14
63
🇹🇷 Turkey
TUR
14
64
🇹🇳 Tunisia
TUN
14
65
🇭🇷 Croatia
HRV
14
66
🇳🇬 Nigeria
NGA
13
67
🇧🇩 Bangladesh
BGD
13
68
🇨🇱 Chile
CHL
13
69
🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan
KGZ
13
70
🇷🇴 Romania
ROU
12
71
🇪🇹 Ethiopia
ETH
12
72
🇮🇶 Iraq
IRQ
11
73
🇲🇽 Mexico
MEX
10
74
🇱🇧 Lebanon
LBN
10
75
🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina
BIH
10
76
🇰🇪 Kenya
KEN
9
77
🇱🇾 Libya
LBY
9
78
🇬🇪 Georgia
GEO
9
79
🇧🇴 Bolivia
BOL
9
80
🇬🇷 Greece
GRC
8
81
🇪🇬 Egypt
EGY
7
82
🇨🇾 Cyprus
CYP
7
83
🇧🇷 Brazil
BRA
7
84
🇪🇨 Ecuador
ECU
6
85
🇵🇭 Philippines
PHL
5
86
🇮🇩 Indonesia
IDN
5
87
🇨🇴 Colombia
COL
5
88
🇳🇮 Nicaragua
NIC
4
89
🇵🇪 Peru
PER
4
90
🇦🇱 Albania
ALB
3

Note: From samples of roughly 1,000–1,500+ interviews of adults per country, conducted in waves. Responses shown to the question, “Generally speaking, would you say that most people can be trusted or that you need to be very careful in dealing with people?” Possible answers include “Most people can be trusted”, “Do not know” and “Need to be very careful”. The UK includes England, Scotland, and Wales, with Northern Ireland listed separately. Figures are rounded. Major processing done by Our World in Data.

Long-standing welfare systems, low corruption, and transparent governments foster consistent high trust across the Nordic region.

Middling Trust in the Anglosphere and Western Europe

English-speaking nations occupy the middle of the pack. New Zealand (57%) and Australia (49%) perform better than Canada (47%), the UK (43%), and the U.S. (37%).

Western European countries show similar dispersion: Switzerland (59%) and the Netherlands (57%) outpace Germany (42%), France (26%), and Italy (27%).

Differences in income inequality and political polarization help explain these gaps.

ℹ️ Related: See which countries are the most politically polarized.

Low-Trust Soceities

Several Latin American nations—Peru (4%), Nicaragua (4%), Colombia (5%), and Ecuador (6%)—rank near the bottom.

Chronic political instability, high crime rates, and economic volatility contribute to scarce interpersonal trust.

In the Middle East, Iraq (11%), Lebanon (10%), and Egypt (7%) also report very low levels, reflecting decades of conflict and governance challenges.

If you enjoyed today’s post, check out How Much Do Different Countries Trust Institutions? on Voronoi, the new app from Visual Capitalist.