Happiness index: how much do we trust the government?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2012/nov/02/happiness-index-how-much-trust-government

Version 0 of 1.

Trust in the UK parliament and government is down but belief in the British democratic system is still high, according to the latest publication from the Measuring National Well-being Programme.

The latest release by the National Office for Statistics (ONS) on governance will form part of the programme which aims to explore a variety of measures that are considered significant to an analysis of how the UK as a whole is doing.

Last week we reported on the release which explored how the economy affects personal happiness and national well-being. This week we have a release on governance which investigates trust in British democracy, government and civic participation. So what do the findings show?

What do we think of Britain's democratic system?

The majority of British adults (63%) agreed that 'for all its faults, Britain's democratic system is one of the finest in the world'. 48% of 18-24 year-olds agreed with the statement compared with 76% of those aged 60 years and over. Despite the high percentage of people agreeing with the statement, 23% of the total questioned tended to disagree or disagree strongly.

During the survey, conducted by YouGov in January 2012, respondents were asked to choose three features of Britain's political system they liked the most with the following results:

• Over a third liked the coverage of politics on radio and TV • 32% chose the role played by the Queen • Under a quarter liked the coverage of politics in newspapers

There were also some interesting answers for features of the British political system that people liked least. Over half stated that the quality of politicians was their least favourite feature and 39% chose the way peers are selected to be members of the House of Lords and the quality of political parties.

How involved are we in civic participation?

According to to the Citizenship Survey run by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), 34% of adults were engaged in some sort of civic participation in 2010-11 – this is the same as the 2009-10 figure.

Civic participation is defined as 'forms of engagement in democratic processes, such as contacting an elected representative, taking part in a public demonstration or protest, or signing a petition'.

YouGov also asked adults aged 18 and over to agree or disagree with statements about participation in politics. This is what they found:

• 50% of men and 42% of women agreed or strongly agreed that being involved in politics was a good way to benefit groups that people care about such as pensioners and the disabled • Just over a quarter of men and only 15% of agreed or strongly agreed that involvement in politics was a good way to benefit themselves and their family • Over a third of both men and women felt that being involved in politics and public affairs took too much time and effort

How much do we trust parliament and the government?

Trust in parliament and government has decreased since last year according to data gathered by Eurobarometer. Less than a quarter of people aged 15 or over tended to trust the UK parliament in 2012 and just over a fifth agreed that they tended to trust government.

The UK parliament saw a peak in 2007 with 41% of people surveyed tending to trust the establishment. In 2009 this dropped to a low of 17%. Trust in the government has fallen from 34% in 2007 to 21% in 2009.

What is our biggest challenge to security?

When asked what they thought the most important challenges to the security of UK citizens were, 47% of respondents stated terrorism. Organised crime and economic and financial crisis were also of high concern and 23% of respondents stated illegal immigration as a challenge to the security of UK citizens.

The tables below show results for trust in parliament and government and also the proportion of people who agreed or disagreed that Britain's democratic system is one of the finest in the world. There is a also a table showing results for civic participation. The downloadable spreadsheet has further data from the latest ONS release including public confidence in the criminal justice system and satisfaction with living in the UK.

Data summary

Proportion of people who agree or disagree that Britain's democratic system is one of the finest in the world: by age, 2012 (%)

Click heading to sort table. Download this data

Source: YouGov

Participation in civic participation, civic consultation and civic activism, %

Click heading to sort table. Download this data

Source: DCLG

Trust in parliament and government, % that agreed or strongly agreed

Click heading to sort table. Download this data

Source: Eurobarometer

Download the data

• DATA: download the full spreadsheet

More data

More data journalism and data visualisations from the Guardian

World government data

• Search the world's government data with our gateway

Development and aid data

• Search the world's global development data with our gateway