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: Chile
Trust in public institutions
In 2023, 30% of Chileans 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, Chileans place more trust in the police (52%) than in the national government (30%). Around a third of the population reports high or moderately high trust in the local government (36%) and international organizations (31%). Political parties (14%), national parliament (19%), the regional (23%) and national (24%) civil service are the least trusted institutions in Chile.
The largest trust gap to the OECD average is for trust in the courts and the judicial system: the share of Chileans who have high or moderately high trust in this institution (25%) is 29 percentage points below the OECD average (54%).
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 [institution]?”; neutral to option 5 and “low or no” to response options 0-4.
Chileans who feel that the current political system does not let people like them have a say tend to trust the national government 45 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.
The Chilean trust gap between those with and without financial concerns is above the OECD average. Chileans with higher financial concerns tend to trust the government 25 percentage points less than those with lower financial concerns; while this gap is of 17 percentage points on average across OECD countries. Trust gaps by gender, age and education are comparatively small in Chile.
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 [institution]?”; 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
In most of the considered measures, Chileans’ satisfaction with day-to-day interactions with public institutions falls below the OECD average.
Forty-one percent of Chileans with recent experience with the education system are satisfied with it, compared to 57% on average across OECD countries. A majority (51%) are satisfied with the administrative services they used; this important driver of trust in the civil service is 15 percentage points lower than the OECD average (66%). A large majority of Chileans (63%) finds it likely they would easily find information on an administrative procedure, compared to 67% across OECD countries.
Chileans find it more likely than the OECD average that public services are improved after complaints: 40% of people in Chile find this likely, compared to the OECD average of 39%. A similar share of people in Chile and on average across the OECD expect public officials to adopt innovative ideas to improve services (39%).
Perceptions of integrity of public employees are low in most countries. Only 31% of Chileans expect that public employees would refuse bribes to speed up service access, below 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 Chile, 2023
Note: The figure presents the unweighted OECD averages and values for Chile 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
Chile performs above or close to the OECD average in most of the measures of decision making on complex policy issues.
Almost half of Chileans (48%) are confident that the country will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, compared to 42% on average across OECD countries.
A sizeable share of Chileans (44%) expect parliament to hold government accountable, a share that is 6 percentage points higher than the average across OECD countries (38%).
Perceptions of government integrity are low in most countries. However, 35% of people in Chile find it likely that government would refuse a corporation’s demand that could be harmful to society as a whole, compared to 30% on average across OECD countries.
In contrast, only 22% of Chileans believe that the political system allows people like them to have a say in what government does. This important driver of trust in the government is 8 percentage points lower than on average across OECD countries (30%). At the same time, 36% of Chileans think the government would adopt opinions expressed in a public consultation, above the OECD average of 32%.
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 Chile, 2023
Note: The figure presents the unweighted OECD averages and values for Chile 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.
This document, as well as any data and map included herein, are without prejudice to the status of or sovereignty over any territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries and to the name of any territory, city or area.