This is a Beta Release
Trust Atlas is under active development. Data coverage is incomplete, methodologies may change, and you'll likely find rough edges. We're building in the open because we believe transparency matters—even when things aren't perfect.
Found an error? Have a suggestion? Want to contribute data or code?
Open an issue on GitHubOverview
Trust Atlas measures trust across three primary dimensions, with the Trust-Quality Gap—the divergence between what citizens believe about institutions and how those institutions actually perform—as a key derived insight. All data sources are freely accessible—no paywalls, no proprietary datasets.
The Three Pillars
Social Trust
Do people trust each other? The foundation of social cohesion. Based on the classic survey question: “Generally speaking, would you say that most people can be trusted, or that you need to be very careful in dealing with people?”
Institutional Trust
Do people trust their government and institutions? This pillar combines two complementary measures: citizen perception (survey-based institutional trust) and institutional performance (expert-assessed governance quality).
The gap between institutional trust and governance quality reveals critical patterns: naive trust (citizens trust corrupt institutions) or cynical distrust (citizens distrust well-performing institutions). This derived metric is often more informative than either measure alone.
Survey-based confidence in government, parliament, courts. Sources: WVS, ANES, CES + regional barometers.
Expert assessments of corruption, rule of law, government effectiveness. Sources: CPI, WGI, WJP, Freedom House, V-Dem.
Media Trust
Do people trust the news media? Based on survey questions about trust in news and confidence in the press.
Supplementary Indicators
Beyond the three core pillars, we track additional trust dimensions as supplementary indicators. These are not included in pillar calculations but provide valuable context.
Trust in scientists and scientific institutions. Sources: Wellcome Global Monitor, WVS.
Confidence in banks and financial institutions. Sources: WVS E069_12, LiTS.
Emerging area. Trust in technology companies and AI systems. Sources: Under development.
Why This Architecture?
Many trust indices combine multiple measures into a single composite score. We chose a different approach—three independent pillars with the Trust-Quality Gap as a derived insight.
When citizens trust corrupt institutions (naive trust) or distrust well-performing ones (cynical distrust), that divergence reveals something important about a society. Combining institutional trust and governance quality into a single number would obscure this critical insight.
Survey data (WVS, GSS) is collected every 5-7 years. Governance data (CPI, WGI) is annual. Keeping them as separate inputs to the Institutional Trust pillar lets us track the gap over time without artificial volatility.
A country with high social trust but low institutional trust tells a different story than one with the opposite pattern. Three pillars plus gap analysis gives researchers and journalists the tools to see these nuances.
Data Confidence
Not all data is equally reliable. We show a confidence indicator and “likely range” for each score so you know how much weight to give it.
Recent survey data (within 3 years). This is our best data.
Older survey data (3-7 years). Still useful, but conditions may have changed.
Based on governance indicators only—no direct survey data available.
Normalization
All scores are normalized to a 0-100 scale for easy comparison:
- Survey percentages (WVS, GSS, etc.) — used directly (already 0-100)
- CPI scores — used directly (already 0-100)
- WGI scores (-2.5 to +2.5) — rescaled:
((x + 2.5) / 5) × 100 - WJP Rule of Law Index — used directly (already 0-100)
Data Sources
We collect data from many sources but apply strict methodology rules for the four pillars shown on the Explore page. Other sources remain available for stories and deeper analysis.
Used for Pillar Scores
These sources power the Explore page. We use only methodologically compatible surveys to ensure scores are comparable across countries and time.
WVS-family surveys only—identical question wording and response scales:
- World Values Survey (WVS) — 108 countries, 1981-2023
- European Values Study (EVS) — 47 countries, 1981-2021
- General Social Survey (GSS) — USA, 1972-2024
- American National Election Studies (ANES) — USA, 1958-2024
- Canadian Election Study (CES) — Canada, 2008-2021
CITIZEN PERCEPTION
- World Values Survey (WVS) — 108 countries
- ANES — USA, 1958-2024
- CES — Canada, 2008-2021
- Regional barometers
GOVERNANCE QUALITY
- Transparency International CPI — 180+ countries
- World Bank WGI — 206 countries
- WJP Rule of Law Index — 142 countries
- Freedom House, V-Dem
- Reuters Digital News Report — 47 countries, 2015-2025
- Standard Eurobarometer — 32 EU countries, 2024
- World Values Survey (press confidence) — 100+ countries, 1981-2023
Additional Sources (Stories & Analysis)
These sources aren't used for pillar scores due to methodology differences, but we use them for featured stories and deeper analysis where single-source consistency matters more than cross-country comparability.
Barometers are now integrated as supplementary sources (v0.7.0):
- Afrobarometer — 39 African countries ✓ Integrated
- Arab Barometer — 12 MENA countries ✓ Integrated
- Asian Barometer — 15 Asian countries ✓ Integrated
- Latinobarómetro — 18 Latin American countries ✓ Integrated
- LAPOP AmericasBarometer — 34 countries (planned)
- European Social Survey (ESS) — 30+ countries (excluded: 0-10 scale)
Core microdata has access restrictions, but free alternatives exist:
- Gallup World Poll — subscription required for full microdata
- Free: Briq GPS (trust, 76 countries), World Risk Poll (142+ countries)
- Academic: Available via Harvard, Yale, Penn, UVA libraries
- Edelman Trust Barometer — public reports available
- Free: Annual PDF reports, dashboard exports
- Microdata: Contact trustinstitute@edelman.com
Licensing & Attribution
Trust Atlas is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0). You may share and adapt the data for any purpose, even commercially, with attribution.
Each data source has its own licensing terms. Some restrict commercial use or require specific citations.
View full attribution & citation requirements →API Access
All Trust Atlas data is available via our public API:
Pillars: social, institutions, media
Supplementary: financial (bank trust)
Source code available on GitHub.
Methodology version 0.8.0 — Last updated January 2026
v0.8.0: Simplified to three pillars (Social, Institutional, Media) with Trust-Quality Gap as derived insight. Added supplementary indicators tier (Science, Financial, AI/Tech).