According to the survey, which was carried out between October 25th and November 27th last year, a time that coincided with the fall of António Costa's government, around 50% of Portuguese people say they trust the courts and the judicial system. On the other hand, the percentage of the population with high or moderately high confidence in the national Government and the Assembly of the Republic stands at 30%.
The percentage of people who indicated high levels of trust in the Government decreased by more than ten percentage points in Portugal, compared to 2021, but the OECD itself highlights that these results may be related to a “generalized decrease in trust in the entire political system, due to the coincidence of the inquiry with the peak of a significant political crisis that led to the calling of national and regional elections”.
Despite this caveat, across the OECD the results show the same trend: “trust in the police, the judicial system, the public service and local government is greater than in the national government”, on average across the 30 countries that participated in this survey.
On the OECD average, the percentage of people with low trust in the Government or no trust (44%) exceeds the percentage of those with high or moderately high trust (39%).
The report also includes other issues related to public institutions, namely revealing that around half of Portuguese people are satisfied with the national education system.
On the other hand, only 30% said they were satisfied with the National Health System (SNS), with more than half of Portuguese people saying they were dissatisfied with the SNS.
The OECD also questioned populations regarding participation in democracy, which revealed that the majority of Portuguese people (more than 90%) are in favor of referendums on issues of national importance.