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: France
Trust in public institutions
In 2023, 34% of French people reported high or moderately high trust in the national government, below the OECD average of 39%.
This number represents an increase by 6 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 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.
Trust in all other public institutions has also improved since 2021, with the largest increase in trust in local government (9 percentage points). Over the same period, trust in other people fell by 6 percentage points.
As in most OECD countries, French people place more trust in the police (67%) and other people (57%) than in the national government (34%). Around half of the population reports high or moderately high trust in local government (56%), the national civil service (53%) and courts and the judicial system (50%). Political parties (18%), news media (33%) and the national parliament (33%) 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.
People in France who feel that the current political system does not let people like them have a say tend to trust the national government 53 percentage points less than those who feel they have political voice. This trust gap is larger than the average 47 percentage points gap across OECD countries.
Similarly, at 36 percentage points, the trust gap between those who (would have) voted for the current government and those who did not is larger in France than the OECD average (27 percentage points)
Men in France on average are more likely to have high or moderately high trust in the national government (41%) than women do (29%). At 12 percentage points, the French gender trust gap of is larger than the 7 percentage point average gender trust gap across OECD countries.
The difference in trust in the national government between younger and older people is significantly smaller in France than on average across OECD countries, while the trust gap between people with and without financial concerns is above the OECD average. The trust gap between those with higher and with lower educational attainment is equally large in France and the OECD average.
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 the day-to-day interactions with public institutions
For most of the considered measures, the French’ satisfaction with day-to-day interactions with public institutions is below the OECD average.
A majority of French people (61%) with recent experience with the healthcare system are satisfied with it, compared to 52% on average across the OECD. Moreover 52% are satisfied with the administrative services they used, an important driver of trust in the civil service, compared to a 66% OECD average.
People in France find it more likely than the OECD average that public sector adopts innovation to improve services: 46% of people in France find this likely, compared to the OECD average of 39%. Similarly, 41% of French people believe that a public service would be improved after a complaint, slightly above the OECD average of 39%.
Perceptions of integrity of public employees are low in most countries: Only 36% of French people expect that public employees would refuse bribes to speed up service access, similar to the OECD average.
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 France, 2023
Note: The figure presents the unweighted OECD averages and values for France 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
France performs similar to the OECD average in almost all measures of decision-making on complex policy issues. However, in France 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.
A majority of people in France (54%) are confident that government is ready to protect lives in an emergency, similar to the average of 53% across OECD countries.
Around four in ten (42%) of French people expect that parliament holds government accountable, a share that is 4 percentage points higher than the average across OECD countries (38%).
Perceptions of government integrity are low in most countries: Only 28% of people in France find it likely that government would refuse a corporation’s demand that could be harmful to society as a whole, slightly lower than the average across OECD countries (30%).
Only one fourth (26%) of people in France 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 4 percentage point lower than the 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 a positive action in the respective situation likely, OECD and France, 2023
Note: The figure presents the unweighted OECD averages and values for France of the share of respondents who choose a response of 6-10 on the 0-10 scale for the above questions.
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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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