A new report sheds light on the level of trust - or in many cases distrust - in governments around the world.

As Statista's Anna Fleck breaks down below, according to the latest Edelman Trust Barometer, Saudi Arabia came first for government credibility among the public in 2024. 

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Germany is towards the opposite end of the scale, with its government trusted by a mere 35 percent of respondents. This is a drop of 7 percentage points since the same time one year ago. Only Spain and Japan scored lower, at 33 and 32 percentage points, respectively. Of the 38 countries surveyed, Argentina saw the greatest improvements in trust for its government since 2023, rising 21 percentage points to 42 percent.

According to the report, fear that leaders are lying reached an all-time high in 2024.

Across the 26 nations surveyed, the share of people who worry that government leaders deliberately mislead the public rose by an average of 11 percentage points between 2021 and 2025.

By 2025, 69 percent of respondents held this belief.

Meanwhile, on average, business remained the most trusted institution in 2024 (62 percent trust), followed by NGOs (58 percent), government (52 percent) and the media (52 percent).