Scottish Household Survey 2025 findings: Trust in Public Institutions
Data from the Scottish Household Survey (2025) exploring trust in public institutions.
Trust in public institutions by area deprivation, 2025
The Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) is the Scottish Government's standard approach to identifying areas of multiple deprivation in Scotland. It is a relative measure of deprivation across 6,976 small areas (called data zones) and looks at the extent to which an area is deprived across seven domains: income, employment, education, health, access to services, crime and housing.
For all institutions, adults in the 20% most deprived areas, as measured by the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation, express less trust than adults in the 20% least deprived areas (Table 9 below and Tables 7, 15, 23, 31, 39, 47, 55 in the supporting Excel workbook). This is a change from 2023, when adults living in the 20% most deprived areas expressed similar levels of trust in the Scottish Government and the Health System compared with adults living in the 20% least deprived areas.
Adults living in the 20% most deprived areas were less likely to express trust in all insititutions. The largest differences in trust could be seen for the Civil Service and the Justice System, followed by the Police and the Education System. Just under half (47%) of adults living in the 20% most deprived areas expressed trust in the Civil Service, compared with 65% of adults living in the 20% least deprived areas (a difference of 18 percentage points). Similarly, half (51%) of adults living in the 20% most deprived areas expressed trust in the Justice System, compared with 67% of adults living in the 20% least deprived areas (a difference of 16 percentage points).
Table 9: Adults in the most deprived areas expressed lower trust in all institutions than those in the least deprived areas
Percentage of respondents who trust and distrust public institutions by area deprivation (SIMD), 2025, Scotland
|
Institution |
SIMD |
Trust |
Distrust |
Don't know or not sure |
|
Scottish Government |
Quintile 1 – 20% most deprived |
43% |
42% |
14% |
|
Quintile 2 |
43% |
46% |
11% |
|
|
Quintile 3 |
45% |
48% |
8% |
|
|
Quintile 4 |
46% |
45% |
9% |
|
|
Quintile 5 – 20% least deprived |
52% |
43% |
5% |
|
|
Local Government |
Quintile 1 – 20% most deprived |
49% |
40% |
12% |
|
Quintile 2 |
49% |
41% |
10% |
|
|
Quintile 3 |
47% |
45% |
8% |
|
|
Quintile 4 |
50% |
41% |
9% |
|
|
Quintile 5 – 20% least deprived |
55% |
38% |
7% |
|
|
Civil Service |
Quintile 1 – 20% most deprived |
47% |
23% |
30% |
|
Quintile 2 |
52% |
23% |
25% |
|
|
Quintile 3 |
56% |
25% |
20% |
|
|
Quintile 4 |
59% |
22% |
19% |
|
|
Quintile 5 – 20% least deprived |
65% |
20% |
15% |
|
|
Education System |
Quintile 1 – 20% most deprived |
58% |
19% |
23% |
|
Quintile 2 |
63% |
19% |
18% |
|
|
Quintile 3 |
61% |
21% |
18% |
|
|
Quintile 4 |
63% |
21% |
16% |
|
|
Quintile 5 – 20% least deprived |
68% |
19% |
13% |
|
|
Health System |
Quintile 1 – 20% most deprived |
71% |
26% |
3% |
|
Quintile 2 |
73% |
25% |
2% |
|
|
Quintile 3 |
74% |
24% |
2% |
|
|
Quintile 4 |
74% |
24% |
2% |
|
|
Quintile 5 – 20% least deprived |
78% |
20% |
2% |
|
|
Police |
Quintile 1 – 20% most deprived |
68% |
24% |
9% |
|
|
Quintile 2 |
71% |
21% |
8% |
|
|
Quintile 3 |
74% |
20% |
6% |
|
|
Quintile 4 |
75% |
18% |
7% |
|
|
Quintile 5 – 20% least deprived |
80% |
14% |
6% |
|
Justice System |
Quintile 1 – 20% most deprived |
51% |
28% |
22% |
|
|
Quintile 2 |
56% |
28% |
16% |
|
|
Quintile 3 |
58% |
27% |
15% |
|
|
Quintile 4 |
60% |
24% |
16% |
|
|
Quintile 5 – 20% least deprived |
67% |
21% |
12% |
Contact
For enquiries about this publication please contact:
Office of the Chief Statistician
e-mail: statistics.enquiries@gov.scot