Trust in others

Trust in institutions

Metric

Proportion of people who report having general trust in others

Why this matters

People have more satisfying lives when they live in an environment characterised by trust in each other and their institutions. Trust also creates the conditions necessary for a society to make progress in pursuing policy that can improve the wellbeing of all people.

Progress

In 2020, around 3 in 5 (62%) Australians aged 18 years and over reported having general trust in others. This is a slight increase on levels reported previously, which have been consistent (approximately 54%) since 2006.

More recent data from the Mapping Social Cohesion Report found that in 2023, 47% of people believed most people could be trusted. The proportion of people who reported that most people could be trusted was 49% in 2022, and 52% in 2021, and 49% and 52% for the two surveys in 2020 (in July and November, respectively).

From 2026 onwards, this indicator will be updated with data from the expanded General Social Survey.

Differences across groups

In 2020:

persons aged 70 years and over were more likely to trust others (68%) compared to persons aged 15-24 (54%)
males and females aged 15 years and over were equally likely to trust others (61% and 62%, respectively).

Proportion of people who report having general trust in others (a)
Period	Persons	Males	Females
2006	54	53	55
2010	54	54	54
2014	54	54	54
2019	55	55	55
2020	62	61	63

Proportion of people who report having general trust in others (a)

["Period","Persons","Males","Females"]

[["2006","2010","2014","2019","2020"],[[54.100000000000001],[54.100000000000001],[54.399999999999999],[55.200000000000003],[61.899999999999999]],[[53.200000000000003],[53.799999999999997],[54.399999999999999],[55],[61.399999999999999]],[[54.899999999999999],[54.299999999999997],[54.399999999999999],[55.399999999999999],[62.5]]]

[]

[{"value":"0","axis_id":"0","axis_title":"Period","axis_units":"","tooltip_units":"","table_units":"","axis_min":null,"axis_max":null,"tick_interval":null,"precision":"-1","data_unit_prefix":"","data_unit_suffix":"","reverse_axis":false}]

[{"value":"0","axis_id":"0","axis_title":"Proportion","axis_units":"","tooltip_units":"(%)","table_units":"","axis_min":null,"axis_max":null,"tick_interval":null,"precision":"0","data_unit_prefix":"","data_unit_suffix":"","reverse_axis":false}]

Data is restricted to people aged 18 years and over for consistency across the time series.

Data Source

ABS General Social Survey - Table 17.1

Disaggregation

Further information on how reported trust in others varies between groups is available via the links below.

Proportion of people who report having general trust in others: ABS General Social Survey

Disaggregation available includes:

Sex
Age group
Health status
Mental health status
Disability status
Residency
Remoteness
Sexual Orientation.

Additional Sources:

Additional data regarding trust in others is available at the 2023 Mapping Social Cohesion Report.