Australia's Trust Levels in Global Perspective: How Does the Nation Compare?

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Parts of the world are becoming more trusting thanks to education and wealth, as Australia rates high on trust but behind some other mostly European nations.

More than two in three Australians say they trust others, above the average of 25 countries, according to a global 2025 survey.

The Pew Research Center, a US-based think tank, surveyed thousands of respondents, uncovering trends in how income, age and gender affect people’s opinion of others.

One of the main divides the survey found was how social trust changes between countries based on income.

Of the 16 high-income nations surveyed, 59 per cent of respondents on average felt that most people can be trusted.

In Sweden, trust levels reached a peak at 83%, with the Netherlands closely following at 79%.

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Conversely, Italy was at the lower end among affluent countries, with 56% expressing a lack of trust in others.

Source: Getty

World becoming more trustworthy

The centre’s findings suggest people across the world are finding each other more trustworthy when compared to previous years.

Indonesia experienced a jump from 41 to 53 per cent of people trusting others over the past 12 months.

Chart of how people perceive trustworthiness

Source: SBS News

Hungary and South Africa also saw increases of 9 and 8 per cent, respectively.

Several nations, including Australia, Italy and Türkiye have stayed at the same levels of trust, while France experienced the biggest drop, from 50 to 44 per cent.

Wealth plays a large role, as people with higher incomes are also more likely to trust others.

What factors influence trust?

The survey found that education, age and gender can also influence one’s trust in others.

People with more education were more likely to be trusting.

In France, 61 per cent of adults with higher levels of education say most people can be trusted, compared with 35 per cent of those with less education.

Older adults were also more trusting than their younger counterparts, with 80 per cent of Australians over 50 years old trusting others.

This decreased among younger age groups in Australia, with 66 per cent of those aged 35 to 59 trusting others, and a drop to 55 per cent of those under 34 years of age.

The Pew Research Center also found that in seven countries, men were more likely than women to trust others.

In Argentina, Hungary and Indonesia, men are at least 10 per cent more likely than women to be trusting.