What's Driving the Global Decline in Trust?

23/05/2024 30 min
What's Driving the Global Decline in Trust?

Listen "What's Driving the Global Decline in Trust?"

Episode Synopsis

Trust is down, worldwide. In India, Iran, Indonesia and Nigeria, less than 15% say that ‘most people can be trusted’. What’s going on? I suggest several likely mechanisms:

1) Generalised distrust is correlated with strong family bonds
2) Poorer countries have rapidly urbanised at a lower level of income
3) Rule of law varies worldwide
4) Political contestation and growing polarisation
5) Online connectivity has boomed, and is increasingly negative

My Substack has graphs, data and further resources: https://www.ggd.world/p/whats-driving-the-global-decline