Believe A Dane, Not An Albanian: These Are The World’s Most Trusting Societies

Trust is the social glue that binds communities, shapes institutions, and fuels economic activity.

The infographic below, via Visual Capitalist’s Pallavi Rao, ranks 90 economies by the share of adults who agree that “most people can be trusted,” using nationally representative survey data from 2022, published 2024.

The data for this visualization comes from Integrated Values Surveys, accessed via Our World in Data.

Ranked: Most and Least Trusting Countries

Denmark leads with 74% of respondents saying that most people can be trusted, followed closely by Norway (72%) and Finland (68%).

Note: From samples of roughly 1,000–1,500+ interviews of adults per country, conducted in waves. Responses shown to the question, “Generally speaking, would you say that most people can be trusted or that you need to be very careful in dealing with people?” Possible answers include “Most people can be trusted”, “Do not know” and “Need to be very careful”. The UK includes England, Scotland, and Wales, with Northern Ireland listed separately. Figures are rounded. Major processing done by Our World in Data.

Long-standing welfare systems, low corruption, and transparent governments foster consistent high trust across the Nordic region.

Middling Trust in the Anglosphere and Western Europe

English-speaking nations occupy the middle of the pack. New Zealand (57%) and Australia (49%) perform better than Canada (47%), the UK (43%), and the U.S. (37%).

Western European countries show similar dispersion: Switzerland (59%) and the Netherlands (57%) outpace Germany (42%), France (26%), and Italy (27%).

Differences in income inequality and political polarization help explain these gaps.

ℹ️ Related: See which countries are the most politically polarized.

Low-Trust Soceities

Several Latin American nations—Peru (4%), Nicaragua (4%), Colombia (5%), and Ecuador (6%)—rank near the bottom.

Chronic political instability, high crime rates, and economic volatility contribute to scarce interpersonal trust.

In the Middle East, Iraq (11%), Lebanon (10%), and Egypt (7%) also report very low levels, reflecting decades of conflict and governance challenges.

If you enjoyed today’s post, check out How Much Do Different Countries Trust Institutions? on Voronoi, the new app from Visual Capitalist.