Scottish Household Survey 2025 findings: Trust in Public Institutions

Trust in public institutions by sex, 2025

While differences between men and women were modest, men tended to be slightly more trusting than women, for most institutions (Table 3 below and Tables 4, 12, 20, 28, 36, 44 and 52 in the accompanying Excel workbook).

Men were more likely than women to trust Local Government (51% vs 49%), the Education System (64% vs 61%), the Health System (77% vs 72%) and the Justice System (61% vs 56%). Women and men expressed similar levels of trust towards the Scottish Government, the Civil Service and the Police.

Women expressed higher levels of distrust than men towards the Health System (26% vs 21%) and the Education System (21% vs 19%). Men expressed more distrust than women in the Civil Service (24% vs 21%) and the Police (21% vs 18%). Women and men expressed similar levels of distrust towards the Scottish Government, Local Government and the Justice System.

Between 2023 and 2025, women’s trust in the Health System and in Local Government declined. In 2023, 77% of women expressed trust in the Health System, compared with 72% in 2025. In 2023, 53% of women expressed trust in Local Government, compared with 49% in 2025.

Compared with 2023, in 2025 men expressed greater trust in the Justice System (61% in 2025 compared with 56% in 2023), the Education System (64% in 2025 compared with 61% in 2023) and the Police (74% in 2025 compared with 71% in 2023). Men’s trust in the Health System declined in the same period (77% in 2025 compared with 79% in 2023).  

Table 3: Men tended to have slightly higher levels of trust than women across most institutions

Percentage of respondents who trust and distrust public institutions by sex, 2025, Scotland.