South Koreans considered the level of trust in the country to be worse last year than 10 years ago, but expect things to improve in the next decade, a report showed Wednesday.

According to a survey conducted by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, citizens rated their level of social trust at 3.8 points out of 10 in 2016. The survey was conducted on 3,667 adults in June-July last year.


The score for 2016 was down 1.47 points from 2006, but the score for 2026 was slightly higher at 3.91 points.

A number close to zero means people have little trust in Korean society.

The respondents rated South Korea’s social unity at 4.18 points out of 10.

In the survey, the respondents evaluated South Korean society based on five categories -- trust, tolerance, dynamism, hope and cooperation -- for 2006, 2016 and 2026.

Findings showed that the respondents rated the level of social tolerance at 3.79 points for 2016, dynamism at 4.03 points, hope at 3.76 points and cooperation at 3.85 points.

Many Koreans seem to pin their hopes on the improvement of social conditions in the future, as each category for 2026 scored between 0.1 to 0.5 points higher than 2016.

Some of the respondents said that South Korea should put more effort into fair distribution and social mobility to develop social unity.

The report also said that “the government should try more measures to secure objective conditions for improving people’s participation in social activities, including more leisure time, in order to improve South Korea’s low level of social unity.”

By Kim Da-sol (ddd@heraldcorp.com)