Business Explainer The Trust Barometer

The Trust Penalty

The report shines a spotlight on global attitudes towards trust, investigating trust levels within four segments of society – business, media, government and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

Its findings derive from a survey conducted in October 2024 across 28 countries with a total of 33,000 respondents that include at least 1,000 individuals from each country.

Edelman added: “Trust is traditionally conveyed from the top-down. We’ve lost that from leaders and it’s moved peer-to-peer. What happened during Covid moved trust lower, which is continuing.”

Linked with trust is the concept of grievance – the idea of feeling resentment or injustice. Globally, there is a grievance crisis; the higher the levels of grievance, the lower the levels of trust.

The report said: “Grievance imposes a trust penalty.”

No, Minister

Politicians bore the brunt of the dissatisfaction levels expressed by respondents in the report. Trust in government ranked the lowest of the four categories investigated, with 17 of the 28 countries showing firm distrust for their governments.

In 2024, the UK ranked bottom in trust levels for government, with just 39% of respondents saying the government was trustworthy. The UK’s trust ranking rose to 43% in 2025 and it was no longer the lowest-scoring, with five others scoring lower, but it remains firmly in the ‘distrust zone’.

The general sense that political leaders are lying to their voters comes at the same time as a worrying increase in support for hostile activism, according to the report, such as attacking people online, intentionally spreading disinformation, threatening or committing violence and damaging private property.

Business Star

One positive takeaway from the report is that individuals see businesses as both competent and ethical. It was the only category of the four that was seen in this light, where individuals globally see business as an avenue for future growth, such as providing good-paying jobs in local communities.

Business remains the most trusted institution, with 62% of respondents rating it as trusted, down just one percentage point on 2024.

But, there is still some work to do. Some respondents think business is not going far enough to address issues of grievance, such as affordability, climate change, retraining, misinformation and discrimination.

Edelman said: “2021 saw business rise to be the most trusted institution in the world and it’s continued that position because business gets stuff done. Business is a relative shining star – not an absolute shining star.”

The Lowdown

After business, the next most trusted segment of society was NGOs, with a 58% trust rating, also down one percentage point on the previous year. Third spot was shared jointly between both media and government – both registering 52%, with government up one point and media adding two percentage points on 2024.

Business was trusted in 15 of 28 countries measured, with the UK registering a ‘neutral’ trust rating of 51%. However, this was the fourth worst outcome, with only Japan, Germany and South Korea ranking lower distrust levels in business than UK respondents.

Interestingly, most industry sectors remain trusted, with only social media registering in the ‘distrust’ zone with less than half (48%) of respondents saying it was trustworthy.