GfK Verein: Global Study on Trust in Professions

 Fire fighters are rated the most trustworthy; politicians with the lowest level of trust

NUREMBERG, Germany, May 6, 2014 /CNW/ - According to a global study on trusted professions conducted by GfK Verein fire fighters are at top of the list. In almost all countries politicians are trusted the least. The global study encompasses the empirically researched trust in over 30 professions with which people enter into relationships in their daily lives. The selection was focused on professions that are present in all 25 of the countries examined. GfK Verein is a non-profit organization for the promotion of market research.

In a comparison of professional groups which are trusted the most, firefighters are the favourites. In 15 of 25 countries they are at top of the list. In Japan, South Korea and Australia the rankings are led by nurses and in Kenya, South Africa and Indonesia by doctors respectively. The most trustworthy professionals in Sweden are the paramedics, whereas in Turkey these are the pharmacists and in Nigeria the farmers. In Kenya, teachers along with the doctors are in the first place of the rankings. With a peak rating of 98 percent almost every Indian trusts the soldiers. With the exception of two countries the lowest level of trust is engendered by politicians. In Indonesia, the insurance agents and in Sweden retailers are judged with the greatest skepticism.

Besides the average level of trust in each country, the trust was calculated in individual professional groups across all countries. The fire fighters are in the lead here, closely followed by the nurses and doctors.The assessment of bank employees on the other hand shows a considerable range between 88 percent trust in India and 14 percent in Spain. Trust in architects shows a more consistent picture. In this group the distance between the highest and the lowest trust ratings is only 26 percentage points (90 percent in Canada versus 64 percent in South Korea). Across all countries insurance agents and politicians meet with the least amount of trust, but even here the picture is less uniform: The individual trust ratings vary between 5 percent in Spain and 50 percent in Indonesia.

The "average" level of trust across all professional groups is at its greatest in South Africa, India and Canada. Japan, Brazil and Argentina are at the lower end of the rank order with the least trust.

SOURCE: GfK

Corina Kirchner, GfK Corporate Communications, T [phone], [email protected]