Social trust in Cyprus low, people cautious of others

Social trust is Cyprus is low, with 65 per cent of people believing that caution should be exercised in interactions with others, the University of Cyprus revealed on Friday.

Citing the European Social Survey (ESS), it described Cyprus as one of the three countries with the lowest levels in trust, along with Poland and Serbia.

A total of 31 countries were surveyed for the data, largely from the EU bloc, and also included Israel.

The survey found that when it comes to social trust in Cyprus, 64.3 per cent believe that we should be cautious in our relationships with people, while 55.7 per cent per cent said that most people would try to take advantage of us if given the opportunity. Additionally, 66.7 per cent said they believe others mainly care about themselves.

“These responses reveal a pervasive sense of low social trust that is getting worse year after year,” the University of Cyprus said.

Poor trust in institutions

The findings also showed a “systematic decline” in trust towards institutions since 2006, with the most dramatic recorded for politicians and political parties. This indicates the eroding satisfaction with most institutions, and can serve as a barrier to accepting and adhering to their decisions, the university underlined.

“This should raise alarm bells over the risk of the growing influence of populist and anti-democratic parties in Cyprus.”

More educated individuals tend to trust more external institutions (such as the United Nations, European Parliament) while older individuals tend to trust local parties and politicians, it added.

Scientists trusted

Where trust in institutions is concerned, on a scale of 0 to 10 where 0 means ‘No Trust’ and 10 ‘Absolute Trust’, the results showed trust levels in Cyprus at: 4.54 for the police.

Justice scored 4.39, European Parliament 4.27, the United Nations 3.64, Cyprus parliament 3.56, politicians 2.02 and in political parties only 1.96.

“These values indicate extremely low levels of trust in institutions.”

On the other hand, with an average of 6.79, scientists are the only group that garners the trust of the majority of citizens in Cyprus.

Regarding the UN, police, and politicians, Cyprus is among the four countries with the least trust in these institutions. Cyprus ranks second, after Spain, with the lowest trust in political parties.