June 8, 2017 |

What Trust Levels Look Like Across The Globe?

As the founder of The People Who Share Benita Matofska said, “trust is the key of sharing economy.” If we trust people, we will naturally be more inclined to share goods and services with them.

This week is Global Sharing Week, an occasion for millions of people around the world to share and discover the sharing economy. But, how much do we trust each other across the globe? We created an infographic showing the level of trust between peers around the world.

Nordic countries, an interpersonal trust model

According to the OECD report “How’s Life?” (2015), Denmark ranked first among the European countries in 2013 in the category “Trust in others”. In the category “Wellbeing over time”, respondents had to grade from 0 to 10 the level of trust they had in others. The report shows that Northern countries like Finland (7,4), Norway (7,3) and Iceland (7) tend to rank higher.

On the other hand, countries with a high GDP like France and Germany rank lower. In fact, France is the country where people trust each other the least, with an average score of 5. Therefore, there is no link between a high GDP and a high level of trust.

A heterogeneous world

The trust levels between people are dramatically different depending on the region they live in. For instance, in 2014, only 2,83% of Filipinos and 4,13% of Colombians thought that most people can be trusted. On the opposite, 66,18% of Dutch and 73,73% of Norwegians agreed with this statement.

With more than 60% of its population agreeing that most people are trustworthy, China is way above the average. The country recently experienced massive growth of its sharing economy, and it can be linked with the trust levels among the population. Nevertheless, China is building new initiatives in favor of this sector.

Millennials trust less but represent the largest proportion of sharing economy users

Based on their age, people participate more or less in sharing economy activities. However, Millennials are today the generation of people that exerts the strongest influence on the sharing economy.

Even if only 19% of them believe that most of the people can be trusted, Millennials participate in the sharing economy at a wider scale than their elders. According to a recent study, 35% of Millennials use car sharing services, compared to 12% of people at the age of 35 and older.

Although trust is a major driver in the sharing economy, Millennials are setting new codes. The generation who trusts the less is also the most willing to share with strangers.

Create your free Trust Profile