At the start of each new year comes the World Economic Forum meet-up in Davos, Switzerland and with that conference start today, 20 January 2025, the publication of the Edelman Trust Barometer.

Now in the study’s 25th annual edition, the Edelman Trust Barometer this year finds us, globally, in a Crisis of Grievance which is eroding trust.

Edelman surveyed 1,150 residents (plus or minus) in each of 28 countries around the world, yielding over 33,000 citizens’ voices sharing perspectives on trust and institutions. Interviews were fielded from late October to mid-November 2024. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Top 10 Findings in the global report — themed “Trust and the Crisis of Grievance” — are,

  1. Most people around the world hold grievances against government, business, and the rich
  2. Grievance erodes trust on a broad basis — across institutions, with CEOs, and vis-a-vis AI
  3. Fears are heightened in 2025 for globalization, recession, and technology
  4. Fear of discrimination is ratcheting up
  5. Most lack optimism for the next generation’s better future
  6. People especially earning low incomes are “mired in distrust”
  7. 2 in 5 people approve of “hostile activism”
  8. There is a high sense of grievance, putting pressure on business — think about high prices sticky upward, climate change, and misinformation
  9. CEOs should take action where they can make a real difference, and,
  10. Recognize that business — the most trusted institution (even with falling trust in 2025) — cannot build trust around the world alone. It will take “all” institutions: government, media, NGOs, and indeed, business together with all organizations, to re-build optimism and re-weave the social fabric.

 

 

 

 

 

 

2024 saw many nations the world over engaged in elections — in addition to the U.S. there were contentious elections in France, Germany, South Korea and elsewhere.

I pulled this chart from the larger study focusing on the red “distrust” numbers in the general population, falling well below the Global 28 neutral level of trust at 56 percent of a nation’s citizen-voters. Note that the U.S. registers a level of 47% of people trusting business, government, media, and NGOs — falling in the bottom 11 nations in the world distrusting the major institutions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Globally, and specific to industry sectors in business, note that healthcare ranks toward the top of most-trusted industries following technology, education, and food & beverage, 73% of U.S. adults trust healthcare in America for the entire sector (covering all microsegments including hospitals, health plans, consumer health, pharma, etc.). This percent of trust-equity is similar to food & bev and hotels & hospitality, and just above manufacturing.

Social media falls to the bottom with only 48% of global citizens trusting this sector — far below the next-lowest industry, fashion, with 63% of people trusting it.

 

 

 

 

Health Populi’s Hot Points:  Reminding us that the 25th annual Edelman Trust Barometer is written in the context of a crisis of grievance, the report offers four strategies for restoring trust and re-building optimism:

  • To address grievances straight on– especially understanding the economic stressors that mainstream people feel and on which they voted at the ballot box where elections were held in 2024
  • Embrace that businesses have a license to act where organizations can make a difference for stakeholders
  • Be humble admitting and acting that business can’t re-build trust bridges alone — so collaboration for trust is a team sport, and,
  • Know that the True North is that with trust, optimism can overpower grievance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grievance as it plays out in the public square translates into activism and, in the 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer, a growing form of “hostile activism.”

What does this mean? Hostile activism takes the form of bullying or attacking people online, intentionally spreading mis- or dis-information, threatening or committing violence, and/or damaging property.

The ultimate “hostile activist” action was taken by Luigi Mangione, the gunman who murdered, in plain sight in New York City, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, Brian Thompson, on December 4, 2024.

Note that 40% of respondents in the Edelman Trust Barometer approve of hostile activism to drive change, varying across age groups as shown on the right side of the graphic. Hostile activity is most embraced or approved by younger people between 18 and 34 years of age, 53% of whom fall into the approval group — that is, over one-half of younger people. Then 41% of people 35-65 approve of hostile activism, and finally 26% of folks 55 and older approving of hostile activism.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we embrace the legacy and promise of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., today while marking the next U.S. President to assume the leadership of the Executive Branch of the American government, we must keep eyes wide open, and hearts too, to address the Grievance Crisis as identified by the Edelman Trust Barometer — especially for health and well-being across all dimensions of our lives, around the world.

As Richard Edelman notes in his concluding comments on this year’s Barometer,

“We need to move back from the precipice of a grievance-based society where ideology becomes identity and violence is seen as a viable option. All four of the major institutions must play a role. Business will have an opportunity in the coming months to work with the new governments in major democracies on important issues such as trade, energy supply and reskilling. All of this will be debated in the more chaotic, free-wheeling media, putting a premium on speed and facts. Our goal must be to give people a sense of control over their destiny, and to drive change that is positive instead of a threat to social status or family well-being.”