Public trust in science
How much trust have Dutch citizens in science? Has the level increased or decreased in recent years? Our trust in science is based on our hope and expectation that science will make our lives healthier, longer, more interesting and therefore more pleasant. Trust in science is an important parameter for assessing the impact of science. This factsheet contains a brief statistical overview of the current state of affairs concerning the trust of the Dutch citizens in science.
In short
- Of all the examined institutions, people trust ‘science’ the most with a score of 7.41 (2026)
- The share of people with a very high trust in science (9-10) has increased a lot since we started measuring. The share of people with a medium to high level of trust (6-8) has decreased significantly over that time period.
- People have high trust in science, except when it comes to conclusions non-scientific parties (e.g. journalists) draw based on scientific research, or how politicians use scientific insights for policy.
Public trust in science in the Netherlands
Trust in science was measured by the Rathenau Instituut in six surveys (2012, 2015, 2018, 2021, 2025 and 2026) conducted among a representative sample of the Dutch public. Respondents were asked to indicate on a scale of 1 (no trust) to 10 (complete trust) how much trust they have in a number of institutions.
Of all the institutions examined, science scores highest for trust: a 7.4 in 2026. Courts of law come in second with a 6.4. Newspapers score a 5.7, while trade unions score a 5.4. The television scores a 4.9, the Dutch parliament a 4.6, large corporations score a 4.5, while the government scores lowest with a 4.3.
| 2012 | 2015 | 2018 | 2021 | 2025 | 2026 | |
| Science | 7,1 | 7 | 7,1 | 7,4 | 7,5 | 7,4 |
| Courts of law | 6,4 | 6,3 | 6,5 | 6,9 | 6,6 | 6,4 |
| Newspapers | 5,9 | 5,8 | 5,8 | 6,1 | 5,7 | 5,7 |
| Trade unions | 5,8 | 5,7 | 5,8 | 6,1 | 5,7 | 5,4 |
| House of Representatives | 5,7 | 5,1 | 5,5 | 6 | 4,8 | 4,6 |
| Government | 5,5 | 4,9 | 5,5 | 6 | 4,3 | 4,3 |
| Television | 5,8 | 5,7 | 5,7 | 5,9 | 4,8 | 4,9 |
| Major corporations | 5,5 | 5,1 | 5,4 | 5,5 | 4,4 | 4,5 |
The high trust in science is not only apparent from the graph above. When we ask about the associations people have with science, they are almost all positive or neutral. When we ask about specific aspects of science, most have people express high trust in these various aspects. More than 60% of people in the Netherlands express trust in science as a knowledge-producing institute, in the scientific method, in scientists, and in the conclusions scientists draw based on scientific research (2026). A minority (15%) of people, however, trust conclusions that non-scientists, such as journalists, draw based on scientific research, and even fewer people (9%) trust the way politicians use scientific insights for policy (2026).
Other surveys also show high confidence in science. The figure below shows the percentage of the Dutch population that rate their confidence in science 6 or higher on a scale from 1 to 10, since 2007. It shows an increase in the confidence in science between 2018 and 2020/2021. Confidence in science reached a peak in 2020, with 90% of people rating their confidence 6 or higher, slowly decreasing back to 84% in 2025.
| Maand en jaar | Percentage |
| dec-07 | 86 |
| dec-08 | 84 |
| dec-09 | 85 |
| dec-10 | 83 |
| dec-11 | 82 |
| dec-12 | 82 |
| dec-13 | 85 |
| dec-15 | 86 |
| dec-16 | 86 |
| dec-17 | 87 |
| dec-18 | 87 |
| dec-19 | 88 |
| dec-20 | 90 |
| dec-21 | 89 |
| dec-22 | 86 |
| dec-23 | 86 |
| dec-24 | 86 |
| dec-25 | 84 |
Share of people with medium to high trust has decreased significantly
The average trust in science has been high since we started measuring in 2012, and has remained relatively stable. At the same time, however, the underlying distribution has changed significantly. The share of people with a medium to high level of trust in science (6-8) has decreased from around 75% between 2012 and 2018 to 52% in 2026. Meanwhile, the share of people with a very high level of trust in science (9-10) has increased from around 12% between 2012 and 2018 to 32% in 2026. The share of people with a low trust in science (1-5) has remained relatively stable, between 10% and 15%, though their share seems to be growing since 2021.
| 1-5 | 6-8 | 9-10 | |
| 2012 | 11,0% | 75,7% | 13,3% |
| 2015 | 15,3% | 72,9% | 12,0% |
| 2018 | 12,3% | 75,9% | 9,0% |
| 2021 | 9,4% | 69,0% | 20,3% |
| 2025 | 14,5% | 51,3% | 34,1% |
| 2026 | 15,7% | 51,8% | 32,2% |
What personal factors correlate with trust in science?
The research shows that trust in science is related to level of education. More highly educated people have more trust in science than people with a lower educational level. However, this correlation disappears when we correct for household income. People that feel like they can live comfortably from their household income have more trust in science, regardless of their level of education.
People who come into contact with science more often, for example by reading about science in the paper, have, on average, more trust in science. People with more knowledge of science also have more trust in science on average.
Trust in science is also related to political preference. People that voted for a left-wing party in the 2025 Dutch national parliamentary elections gave their level of trust in science an 8.4 on average. People that voted for a centrist party gave their level of trust in science an 8.2. People that voted for a right-wing party gave their level of trust in science a 6.7 on average. The connection between party affiliation and trust has also been observed for the other institutions, indicating a correlation between political orientation and general attitudes towards institutions.
Religiosity does not correlate with trust in science, but spirituality does, whereby people that think of themselves as more spiritual tend to have less trust in science on average.
For the first time we observe in our last survey (2026) a correlation between trust in science and psychological distance to science, which expresses to what extent people feel that science is something familiar and close to them, or distant and unfamiliar. People that experience less psychological distance to science tend to have more trust in science on average, though the effect is different for different varieties of psychological distance.
Men and women on average do not express significantly different levels of trust in science.
Trust differs between research topics
In the 2026 survey, as well as in 2025, we asked people how much trust they have in science concerned with particular topics or themes. We see big differences between trust levels between these different research topics. While more than 60% of people express trust in healthcare and vaccine research, around half of people express trust in research focused on climate change, history, and defense, while only around 35% of people express trust in research on genetically modified organisms (GMOs), artificial intelligence (AI) and discrimination and inequality.
| Don't know/no opinion | Little or no trust | Neither little nor a lot of trust | A lot or all trust | |
| Health | 3,5 | 7,8 | 17,0 | 71,7 |
| Vaccines | 3,5 | 16,0 | 17,2 | 63,4 |
| Climate change | 4,5 | 26,7 | 19,0 | 49,8 |
| History | 9,4 | 16,9 | 24,5 | 49,2 |
| Defense | 9,3 | 17,4 | 25,8 | 47,5 |
| AI | 10,0 | 25,8 | 26,6 | 37,5 |
| Genetically modified organisms | 15,6 | 25,0 | 24,4 | 35,0 |
| Discrimination and inequality | 9,0 | 28,7 | 27,9 | 34,4 |
Sources
LISS (Longitudinal Internet Studies for the Social sciences) panel.
Tiemeijer, Will & De Jonge, Jos; Hoeveel vertrouwen hebben Nederlanders in wetenschap? WRR/Rathenau Instituut The Hague 2013. (in Dutch)
Rathenau Instituut. Trust in science 2015, Facts and figures 15. The Hague 2015.
Rathenau Instituut. Trust in science in the Netherlands 2018. The Hague 2018.
Rathenau Instituut. Vertrouwen van Nederlanders in wetenschap (enquête 2021). The Hague 2021. (in Dutch)
Rathenau Instituut. Vertrouwen in de wetenschap 2025. The Hague 2025. (in Dutch)
Rathenau Instituut. Vertrouwen in de wetenschap 2026. The Hague 2026. (in Dutch)