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: Iceland
Trust in public institutions
In 2023, 36% of people from Iceland reported high or moderately high trust in the national government, below the OECD average of 39%.
This number represents a decrease by 14 percentage points since 2021, the 3rd highest decrease 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.
Similarly to most OECD countries, people from Iceland place more trust in other people (82%) and the police (73%) than in the national government (36%). More than half of the population reports high or moderately high trust in the national civil service (64%) and news media (62%). National parliament (36%) and political parties (20%) are the least trusted institutions in Iceland.
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. In Iceland, the regional civil service refers to the regional (municipality) civil service.
Icelandic people 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 average 47 percentage points gap across OECD countries.
Iceland is one of the three countries, together with Estonia and Norway, where women are slightly more or equally likely to have high or moderately high trust in the national government (37%) than men do (36%). On average across OECD countries, in contrast, the share of women with high or moderately high trust in the national government is 7 percentage points lower than the share among men.
While the share who trust national government is equal among younger and older people in Iceland, across the OECD, the share that trust government among people aged 50 and older is 7 percentage points above the share among young people aged 18 to 29.
The trust gaps are similar between those with lower and higher educational attainment and those with and without financial concerns in Iceland compared to 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. The shares with high or moderately high trust in government among people who are “male” and “50 or older” are identical to the shares among people who are “female” and “between 18-29 years old” respectively, and therefore do not appear in the figure.
Perceptions of the public governance drivers of trust
Perceptions of day-to-day interactions with public institutions
For most of the considered measures, the satisfaction of people in Iceland with day-to-day interactions with public institutions is above the OECD average.
A large majority of people in Iceland (66%) with recent experience with the education system are satisfied with it, compared to 57% on average across the OECD; Moreover, 66% are satisfied with the administrative services they used, an important driver of trust in the civil service, equal to the OECD average.
People in Iceland find it more likely than the OECD average that public employees would refuse bribes to speed up service access: 51% of people in Iceland find this likely, compared to the OECD average of 36%.
In contrast, only 29% of people in Iceland expect that public services are improved after complaints, lower than the OECD average of 39%.
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 Iceland, 2023
Note: The figure presents the unweighted OECD averages and values for Iceland 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
Iceland performs worse than the OECD average on almost all measures of decision-making on complex policy issues. Moreover, in Iceland 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.
Half of people in Iceland (50%) find it likely that government is ready to protect lives in an emergency, compared to 53% on average across OECD countries.
A third of people in Iceland (34%) expect that government balances interests of current and future generations, a share that is 3 percentage points lower than the average across OECD countries (37%).
In addition, only 20% of people in Iceland find it likely that parliament holds government accountable, lower than the average across OECD countries (38%).
Fewer than one in four (23%) of people in Iceland 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 7 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 a positive action in the respective situation likely, OECD and Iceland, 2023
Note: The figure presents the unweighted OECD averages and values for Iceland 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.