2017 Trust Barometer: TRUST IN ASIA PACIFIC, MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA

How much do you trust each institution to do what is right?

This is the question tackled by the annual trust survey conducted by Edelman, a leading global communications marketing firm. The barometer has been done since 2001. This year, it has observed the following as major points to ponder in the global scale.

1. Trust in crisis: Trust in all institutions dropped, with trust in media at an all-time low.
​2. Trust inequality grows: Trust gap between the informed public and the masses widen.
3. Broken system: Only 15 percent agree that the system is working.
4. Concerns and fears: Corruption, globalization, immigration, and innovation are among the top concerns of society.
5. Populist action: Societal fears combined with unbelief in the system tend to cause populist actions.
6. Media echo chamber: People are more likely to ignore information which are contrary to their beliefs, and those who they usually disagree with. In addition, social media helped entrench many people to their own opinions, rather than expand their perspectives.
7. Highly credible peers: Credibility of experts and managers is at an all-time low, with people more likely to believe their peers as credible sources.
8. Business fears: The current pace of business, which includes foreign competition and automation, also fuels societal fears.
9. High expectations for business: Nevertheless, people expect businesses to treat both employees and customers well.
10. Demand for a new model: The crisis calls for a new operative model which listens to and engages all stakeholders.

Despite overall decrease in global trust (minus 3 points in a scale of 100), the Asia-Pacific, the Middle East (West Asia), and Africa seem to be exceptions. For instance, Asian nations like India (+7), Indonesia (+7), and Turkey (+2) experienced a boost in the trust index. However, most Asia-Pacific and West Asia countries, which included Australia (-7), China (-6),  United Arab Emirates (-6), Singapore (-4), Malaysia (-4), South Korea (-4), and Japan (-3) followed the worldwide trend of decreasing trust.

See the complete survey