PM Trust Index June 2009
Firefighters are the most trusted group
International GfK survey on the extent to which citizens trust various professional groups and organizations Nuremberg, June 5, 2009 – The fire service enjoys by far the highest levels of trust internationally. On the other hand, there has been a considerable decrease in the trust placed in bank employees. The only groups considered even less trustworthy are managers of major companies, advertising experts and politicians. These are the findings of the GfK Trust Index survey for spring 2009,which has been carried out in 17 countries by GfK Custom Research.
With a total of 92%, the citizens of virtually all countries participating in the survey considered firefighters the most trustworthy group. Poland was the only country to record lower levels of trust. Teachers are ranked in second place, with 85% (previous year: third place), and postal workers, doctors and the armed forces come in third, each with 81%. In Western Europe, teachers (83%) swap places with doctors (85%). Postal workers come fourth in the list (82%), followed by the armed forces (77%) and the police (76%).
In Germany too, firefighters and doctors occupy the two top spots, at 98% and 89% respectively. However, the picture changes for the subsequent positions: the police and postal services are ranked third and fourth, while teachers only come fifth.
Clergy and the police in the upper mid-range
More than half of all respondents place their trust in the clergy, environmental protection organizations, the police, charitable organizations, judges, civil servants and market researchers, although there are significant differences between the different countries: the church has a particularly good reputation in Romania, Poland and Germany, with three quarters of those surveyed believing it to be trustworthy, whereas Greek and French citizens trust it the least, at 26% and 36% respectively. There is also a mixed picture concerning the police: around three quarters of people in GfK Custom Research
Western Europe have confidence in police officers (with the exception of Greece, where the figure is 40%). However, this professional group is seen as trustworthy by only half of all those surveyed in Eastern Europe, and only by around one third of those in Russia.
The situation is similar for the reputation of judges. A total of 57% of all respondents perceive this professional group to have a positive image. The figure is as high as 86% in Poland, whereas it drops to 31% in Bulgaria.
Trust in market researchers tends to be slightly higher in Central and Eastern Europe than in Western Europe. Polish citizens have the highest level of confidence in this professional group (83%), while the Greeks (47%) and Americans (48%) have the least.
Poland is also the country where charities are accorded the most trust. The lowest levels of confidence in this group were recorded in Italy.
Civil servants have a very different reputation depending on the country in question: while just under 80% of Swiss citizens believe this profession to be trustworthy, only one in four in Greece gave a similar response.
Citizens accord politicians the least trust
More than half of all those surveyed expressed mistrust of lawyers, tradeunions, journalists, marketing experts, bank employees, managers of major companies, advertising experts and politicians.
As in previous years, politicians brought up the rear in terms of trust levels,with only 18%, and even dropping as low as 15% in Western Europe. The image of politicians is particularly poor in Greece (6%), Hungary (8%), France (10%) and Italy (also 10%). In the USA, political leaders form the least-trusted group; however, at 21%, the percentage of citizens who do perceive them as trustworthy is still significantly higher than in Western Europe.
Levels of trust in bankers have fallen considerably
Compared with the previous year, the proportion of people according trust to bank employees decreased by a total of 8 percentage points, from 45% to 37%. While the decline in trust was rather more moderate in most countries of Central and Eastern Europe, it was more drastic in some Western European countries and the USA: the sharpest drops were recorded in Sweden and the UK. In spring 2008, 72% of Swedish citizens still had faith in the employees of the banking sector, whereas today, this stands at just under 50%. There was a similarly large decrease in the UK: one year ago, over half of respondents still believed bankers to be trustworthy, and today, only one in three expresses this opinion. Similarly, the proportion of people surveyed who had a positive image of this professional group declined by 20% in the USA, with over 60% expressing trust in employees of financial institutions in 2008, compared with 40% today. Bank employees have also suffered a loss of credibility in Germany, albeit to a lesser extent. One year ago, just under three quarters of Germans trusted the banks, compared with just 63% today. However, this is still significantly above the average for Western Europe, where only 40% view this professional group positively. Switzerland is the only country where trust in the banks is higher than in Germany: here, 68% of respondents considered bank employees to be trustworthy (previous year: 77%).
The survey
GfK Custom Research used the GfK Trust Index in spring 2009 to determine the levels of trust that citizens have in the following 20 professional groups and organizations: doctors, bank employees, civil servants, the fire service, trade union representatives, journalists, the clergy, teachers, marketing experts, market researchers, the armed forces, the police, politicians, postal workers, lawyers, judges, top managers, environmental protection organizations, advertising experts and charities. For this year’s Trust Index, GfK Custom Research surveyed a total of 17,295 respondents in 16 European countries and the USA in February and March 2009, with financial support from GfK-Nürnberg e.V.
Further information: Sandra Lades, GfK Custom Research,tel: +49 911 395-3606, sandra.lades@gfk.com
