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: Latvia
Trust in public institutions
In 2023, 29% of Latvians reported high or moderately high trust in the national government, below the OECD average of 39%.
This number represents an increase by 4 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.
As in most OECD countries, Latvians place more trust in other people (60%), the police (52%) and courts and the judicial system (48%) than in the national government (29%). Around 40% of the population reports high or moderately high trust in local government (41%) and the national civil service (39%). Political parties (13%) and the national parliament (25%) are the least trusted institutions in Latvia.
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.
Latvians who feel that the current political system does not let people like them have a say tend to trust the national government 50 percentage points less than those who feel they have political voice. This trust gap is larger than the 47 percentage points gap on average across OECD countries.
Men in Latvia on average are slightly more likely to have high or moderately high trust in the national government (30%) than women do (28%). The Latvian gender trust gap is thus well below the 7 percentage point average gender trust gap across OECD countries.
The Latvian trust gaps between the younger and older people and between people with lower and higher educational attainment are below the OECD average. The trust gap in Latvia between those with lower and higher financial concerns is similar to the gap across the OECD countries.
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
In most of the considered measures, Latvians’ satisfaction with day-to-day interactions with public institutions is below the OECD average.
Fewer than four in ten Latvians (38%) with recent experience with the education system are satisfied with it, compared to 57% on average across the OECD. In contrast, 63% are satisfied with the administrative services they used, an important driver of trust in the civil service, compared to a 66% OECD average.
Latvians find it slightly more likely than the OECD average that their application for government benefits would be treated fairly: 53% of people in Latvia find this likely, compared to the OECD average of 52%.
Perceptions of integrity of public employees are low in most countries: Only 25% of Latvians 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 Latvia, 2023
Note: The figure presents the unweighted OECD averages and values for Latvia 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
Latvia performs worse than the OECD average in all measures of decision-making on complex policy issues. Moreover, in Latvia and across the OECD, a lower share of people has positive perceptions regarding complex decision-making than regarding day-to-day interactions with public institutions.
Slightly more than one-third of Latvians (35%) find it likely that the government would be ready to protect lives in case of a large-scale emergency, compared to 53% on average across OECD countries.
Perceptions of government integrity are low in most countries: More than one-fourth of Latvians (28%) expect politicians would refuse to render a political favour in return for a well-paid private sector job, a share that is only slightly lower than the average across OECD countries (31%).
Around one-fifth (21%) of people in Latvia find it likely that government adequately balances the interests of current and future generations, a share that is 16 percentage points lower than the OECD average of 37%.
Only 12% of Latvians 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 18 percentage points below 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 Latvia, 2023
Note: The figure presents the unweighted OECD averages and values for Latvia 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.
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