OECD survey highlights trust gap in Bulgaria

Bulgaria has been included for the first time this year in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) Survey on Drivers of Trust in Public Institutions 2026.

The OECD survey, also known as the Trust Survey, is the leading international tool for understanding the factors that build trust in government, as well as those that undermine it, according to the introduction to the report.

The survey aims to provide reliable, internationally comparable data on people's perceptions of public institutions across countries. It covers representative samples from 33 OECD member countries, as well as five OECD accession countries, three in Europe and two in Latin America and the Caribbean, CE Report quotes BTA.

The survey measures people's perceptions of public institutions in their country and the extent to which they trust their government. It examines experiences ranging from everyday interactions with public institutions to perceptions of how decisions are made on complex policy issues. It also assesses public expectations regarding the reliability, responsiveness, fairness, integrity and openness of government.

The survey in Bulgaria was conducted between September 10 and November 18, 2025.

According to the findings, trust in public institutions in Bulgaria varies by institution but remains below the OECD average across all political and administrative institutions. In 2025, public confidence was higher in institutions responsible for law enforcement and public security, as well as in administrative bodies, than in political institutions, reflecting broader OECD trends. Only 15% of Bulgarians reported trusting the civil service, compared with the OECD average of 45%.

Public perceptions of day-to-day interactions with government institutions were also less favourable than the OECD average. Bulgaria scored below the OECD benchmark on all indicators measuring everyday experiences with public services, including ease of access to services, the availability of information and the effectiveness of problem resolution.

In Bulgaria, 40% of respondents expressed satisfaction with administrative services, 29% perceived fairness in benefit applications, and 36% perceived legitimacy of public sector data use.

More broadly, Bulgarians rated politicians' handling of complex policy issues below the OECD average across all indicators. This suggests lower confidence in the government's ability to address long-term challenges, take citizens' input into account, weigh competing interests and act in the public interest.

The survey also found that Bulgarians have relatively low confidence in public institutions' ability to use artificial intelligence responsibly.

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