South Korea Rises to 6th Place in OECD Public Trust Survey

South Korea has climbed nine spots to rank 6th in the latest Public Trust in Government survey conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced that South Korea recorded a trust level of 51 percent in the survey released by the OECD on June 29 (local time), placing it 6th among the 38 participating countries.

South Korea previously ranked 15th in the 2023 survey, which included 30 countries.

In the inaugural 2021 survey, the country ranked 7th out of 20 nations.

The trust level, which stood at 49 percent in 2021 and 37 percent in 2023, has risen by 14 percentage points in two years, surpassing the levels seen four years ago.

This figure is also higher than the OECD member average of 40 percent.

South Korea ranked higher than other major member nations, including Australia (50 percent, 7th), Canada (49 percent, 8th), and Japan (45 percent, 11th).

The OECD survey on public trust has been conducted biennially since 2021.

It aims to provide data for governments to use in policy-making by examining factors that influence trust, such as public confidence in government, experiences with public services, and perceptions of the policy-making process.

The latest survey was conducted online across 38 countries—33 OECD members and 5 non-member nations—with approximately 2,000 citizens from each country participating.

South Korea scored above the OECD average in most categories related to public service experience and perceptions of complex policy-making processes.

The country also showed high levels of confidence in government use of artificial intelligence (AI), ranking 2nd (59 percent) in the potential for providing personalized services.

South Korea ranked in the top tier among surveyed countries in areas such as satisfaction with administrative services (79 percent, 5th), satisfaction with the healthcare system (74 percent, 5th), the likelihood of service improvement following public complaints (52 percent, 4th), and the likelihood of public opinion—such as feedback from public hearings—being reflected in policy (43 percent, 3rd).

However, the likelihood that personal information is used only for legitimate purposes (47 percent, 23rd) and satisfaction with the education system (51 percent, 23rd) were found to be below the OECD average.

(Photo: Captured from OECD website, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.