"Over the past year, there has been a general decline in levels of institutional trust compared to 2023." This is what emerges from the Istat survey on trust in the country's institutions over the course of over a decade (2012-2024). "The only institutions that consistently receive more than sufficient levels of trust from citizens," the report states, " are the fire department, the police force, and the President of the Republic. Otherwise, trust in the institutions of democracy is below the passing grade."
The ranking of levels of trust sees firefighters in first place, with political parties in last.
The same situation is found for the regional government , with differences of approximately 10 percentage points between the North and the South in the share of citizens aged 14 and over who give confidence ratings between 6 and 10 (45.6% versus 35.9%, respectively). The highest scores are recorded in Veneto, with 57% of citizens giving a confidence rating between 6 and 10, while the lowest are in Molise, Sardinia, and Sicily, where scores between 6 and 10 range between 28% and 31%. Therefore, only 3 out of 10 citizens of the island have at least sufficient confidence in regional institutions.
Citizens' levels of trust in the national government, however, are similar across the country. Istat also notes smaller regional differences in levels of trust in the Italian Parliament, ranging from 39.5% in the North to 42.7% in Central Italy.
Finally, in the case of the European Parliament , the levels of trust, similar to those expressed towards the Italian one, with approximately four out of 10 citizens expressing a vote from 6 to 10 , are rather homogeneous across the country.
(Unioneonline/lf)
