Over the past seven years, the level of trust in Ukrainian society has increased. This is evidenced by the results of a study conducted by the Democratic Initiatives Foundation, which compared the results of surveys of our citizens in 2017 and 2024. Trust in the Armed Forces, charitable and humanitarian organizations has grown the most over this time. The Center for Public Monitoring and Control found out who Ukrainians trust and distrust.

The percentage of people who fully trust the Armed Forces has more than tripled since 2017, rising from 20.6% to 69.4%. Today, the Armed Forces have the highest level of trust among Ukrainians. Trust in the Church has also grown; it now ranks second, with 28.1% of people expressing trust, up from 22.1% in 2017. Charitable organizations rank third, with trust increasing from 8.6% in 2017 to 13.6% in 2024. This was reported by Tenews.

Only 2.6% of citizens fully trust the Verkhovna Rada, a significant increase from 0.6% in 2017. Trust in the Cabinet of Ministers stands at 1.9% (up from 1% in 2017), and 1.8% of citizens fully trust political parties, compared to 0.4% in 2017.

Ukrainians have also shown increased trust in social media, rising to 4.7% in 2024, up from 2% in 2017. Attitudes toward traditional media remain mixed; while the percentage of Ukrainians who fully trust the media increased from 1.6% in 2017 to 5.9% in 2024, distrust remains high, with 44.7% of respondents indicating they “do not trust” the media much and 19.3% stating they do not trust them at all.

Since 2017, trust has grown in institutions and among individuals. The percentage of Ukrainians who believe most fellow citizens can be trusted has increased from 17% to 32%. However, 67.5% still maintain that one must be very cautious in relationships. Trust within families remains the highest, although it has decreased slightly. In 2024, 83.8% of respondents reported trusting their loved ones completely, compared to 90.4% in 2017. On the other hand, trust in people of different nationalities has risen from 1.9% to 4.5%, and trust in people of other religions increased from 2.1% to 5.1%. Still, the overall level of distrust towards strangers remains notably high.

The share of individuals who consider themselves happy has slightly increased, from 59% in 2017 to 62% in 2024. Younger respondents report feeling happier more often, with 75% of those aged 18-29 stating they feel happy, compared to only 54% of those aged 60 and above. Among language speakers, 63% of those who identify Ukrainian as their native language consider themselves happy, while 46% of Russian speakers feel the same.

The percentage of citizens proud to be Ukrainian has also risen significantly, from 68% to 85%, with those expressing strong pride increasing from 22% to 47%. Pride in citizenship varies regionally, with 76% in the East and 77% in the South, compared to 91% in the West.

Finally, the importance of democratic values has grown. The share of people who believe it is most important to empower citizens to influence public decisions increased from 19% to 25%. Additionally, those prioritizing the protection of freedom of speech rose from 3% to 8%. (Quelle: www.risu.ua, 2. Juni 2025)