The institutions we trust have shifted during the pandemic era, with health care and small businesses leading politicians and the media.

FGH’s Research and Insights team took a look at recent polling to find out who we trust (and don’t): 

• Family-owned businesses are the most trusted, with the global population trusting them 67%. 

• The U.S. has fallen five points in the Edelman Trust Index to 43% average trust of U.S. NGOs, business, government and media.

• Doctors are the most trusted globally, with 64% of people finding doctors trustworthy in their individual country. Politicians are the least trustworthy (10%).

• Pharmaceuticals are the second most trusted sector, but still only 31% of global respondents consider the pharmaceutical sector trustworthy, while 28% consider it untrustworthy. In the U.S., 23% consider pharmaceutical companies trustworthy while 42% find them untrustworthy.

• Media is the least trusted sector with 19% of global respondents saying the media is trustworthy and 17% saying social media is trustworthy.