This article is the third in the “Gallup World Poll at 20” series, examining two decades of global trends using data collected in more than 140 countries since 2006. Additional articles in the series will be published throughout 2026.
LONDON — Global confidence in many key national institutions is higher today than it was 20 years ago. Across the countries Gallup has surveyed in its World Poll, median confidence in the military, courts, elections and banks is higher today, while confidence in national governments is similar to its level from two decades ago.
The military elicits the most confidence of the five, with a median of 72% of adults globally expressing faith in this institution. Financial institutions follow at 63%, while median confidence in the remaining three — judicial systems (52%), national governments (50%) and the honesty of elections (49%) — are all near 50%.
The absence of a global decline does not mean confidence is universally high or is unchanged everywhere. Many adults still lack faith in the key institutions that influence their lives, particularly their national government, judiciary and elections. Additionally, countries often touted as models of democracy — including the United States, France and the United Kingdom — have suffered declining confidence in many of these key institutions. Yet these countries are the exception.
The global trends in these measures of national institutions mask differences by type of political system. The classifications for this analysis are based on V-Dem Institute's regime type index, which scores and classifies countries on the extent of voting rights, the fairness of elections, freedom of expression, protections for civil liberties and constraints on executive power.
- Liberal democracies: score highest on the index, holding free and fair elections and having strong protections for civil liberties
- Electoral democracies: fall short of liberal democracies by lacking the same institutional checks or protections of civil liberties, but are still broadly democratic
- Closed or electoral autocracies: either hold elections that are largely unfree, or dispense with them altogether, where political and civil freedoms are more restricted
Of the 136 countries included in the 2025 World Poll that were asked questions about institutional confidence, 21% are classed as liberal democracies, 34% as electoral democracies, and 45% as closed or electoral autocracies.
Confidence in National Government Buoyed by Autocracies
National government stands out because it is the sole institution about which people living in autocratic countries consistently express greater confidence than those living in democracies. In 2025, a median of 62% of people living in autocracies had confidence in their national governments, significantly above the global median over the past two decades after increasing sharply since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Confidence in governments is notably lower across liberal democracies (47%) and electoral democracies (41%), with neither figure reaching a majority. In liberal democracies, confidence has climbed steadily from a trend-low 35% in 2012, while in electoral democracies it has remained relatively flat, hovering near its historical average.
Higher levels of confidence in autocratic governments could, in part, reflect people’s discomfort in expressing their honest opinions, as freedom of expression is suppressed in many nondemocratic countries. Gallup is also unable to measure confidence in institutions in some countries because of sensitivity.
Confidence in Electoral Integrity Tells a Different Story
Confidence in the honesty of elections over the past two decades does not follow the same pattern as confidence in national government. Liberal democracies stand out for their high and sustained levels of confidence in the honesty of elections. Despite a dip to 64% in 2025 after peaking at 67% in 2024 — when voters in more than 70 countries went to the polls — median global confidence among this group of liberal democracies remains in line with the long-term average.
Meanwhile, the trends for confidence in the honesty of elections across electoral democracies and autocracies have been similar over time and were roughly on par last year: 44% and 47%, respectively.
The gap between how people in autocratic countries view their elections (47% confident) and their national governments (62% confident) is notable. Their diminished positivity about the honesty of elections compared with their national governments suggests that, while freedom of expression could play a role in how people respond to surveys, many people may be genuinely more favorable toward their governments despite recognizing their autocratic nature.
Confidence in Judicial Systems Rises Across All Political Systems
People’s faith in their judicial systems has risen over time across all three forms of political system. In 2025, median confidence across democracies and autocracies alike was at least three points higher than the long-term average from 2006-2024.
As is true for confidence in elections, adults in liberal democracies express the most widespread confidence in their national judicial systems (58%). However, electoral democracies have a deficit (median of 45%) compared with autocracies (53%), even as confidence has been rising for both during much of the past decade.
Less Division in Global Confidence in Military, Banks
Unlike confidence in national governments, elections and judicial systems, where there are clearer divides according to political system, confidence in financial institutions and militaries is more uniform globally.
Median confidence in militaries has remained stable over time at high levels across all system types, and it was at or above 70% in 2025. Confidence in banks fell after the 2008 financial crisis in liberal democracies, but has since recovered to precrash highs, even among the countries most affected by the initial crisis.
Across Europe, Confidence in Institutions Lowest Among Supporters of Parties on the Extreme Right
Confidence in institutions also varies within countries along political divides, as well as across countries. In 2025, Gallup collected data about party identification for the first time in several European as well as other countries.
Combining party identification data from the Gallup World Poll with the Chapel Hill Expert Survey (CHES), which gathers expert opinion to score parties along a left-right continuum from 0-10, facilitates deeper analysis of how political attitudes and institutional perceptions intersect across the European Union and the U.K.
After controlling for a range of demographic factors, including age, gender, education and employment status, individuals who support parties at the extremes of Europe’s political spectrum have the lowest levels of confidence in institutions, though those on the far right express the least confidence of all.
Among those who support parties rated between 9 and 10 on the CHES scale — including Reform UK, Vox, and Alternative for Germany (AfD) — people have confidence in at most 2.8 institutions, compared with 3.3 and 3.4 institutions for parties across the center left and center right of European politics.
Supporters of parties ranked between 2 and 3 on the CHES scale — such as the Greens in Austria or Sinn Fein in Ireland — have confidence in between 3.0 and 3.2 institutions on average.
Bottom Line
Gallup trends challenge the common narrative that confidence in institutions is in universal decline. The trend is real in some countries with long democratic traditions, such as the U.S., U.K. and France. But around the world, the opposite is seen. Confidence in institutions is at least stable, if not rising globally, regardless of political system.
Significant challenges remain. Much of the world still lacks faith in key institutions, and confidence in autocratic governments continues to outpace confidence in democracies. Across European democracies, confidence also drops among people who support parties at the more extreme ends of the political spectrum, but particularly on the right.
This analysis is based on confidence in five major institutions, but there are others that are not measured by the World Poll. Though this is not an exhaustive study of all major institutions, it does suggest that global public opinion toward institutions is in better health than is often assumed.
John Reimnitz and Chris Miljanich contributed to this analysis.
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For complete methodology and specific survey dates, please review Gallup's Country Data Set details. Learn more about how the Gallup World Poll works.
