2018 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 worldwide scale.

1. Battle for trust: Trust in all institutions slightly changed from 2017 as more countries harbor distrust.
​2. Polarization of trust: Gainers trust government more, while losers trust non-government organizations more.
3. Real versus fake news: Media remains the least trusted institution, but trust in journalism experienced a significant increase.
4. Uncertainty and apathy: Half the population seldom take note of news, and 63 percent do not know how to distinguish true from false reports.
5. Business initiative: More CEOs believe they should take charge in executing change rather than waiting for government to enact it.
6. High Technology: Sectors of technology and education are the most trusted in the industry, while financial services and consumer packaged goods (CPG) are the least trusted.
7. Cooperation between institutions: Protection of privacy and poverty alleviation among the top concerns among institutions to build trust.

Despite sluggish recovery in global trust (plus 1 point in a scale of 100), Asia, the Pacific, the Middle East (West Asia), and Africa seem to be exceptions. For instance, Asian nations like China (+2), Indonesia (+2), and India (-4) lead the world in terms of institutional trust index. Other gainers moving up the index include Malaysia (+5), United Arab Emirates (+6), Turkey (+3), South Korea (+6), and Japan (+2). However, a number of Asia, the Pacific, West Asia, and Africa countries, which included Australia (-2), Singapore (-2), and South Africa (-4) still followed the global trend of decreasing trust.

See the complete survey