Title
Toward Sustainability: Examining Economic Inequality and Political Trust in EU Countries
Authors
[ 1 ] Instytut Zarządzania i Systemów Informacyjnych, Wydział Inżynierii Zarządzania, Politechnika Poznańska | [ P ] employee
Scientific discipline (Law 2.0)
Year of publication
2026
Published in
Article type
scientific article
Publication language
english
Keywords
Abstract
EN Political trust is essential for implementing the United Nations 2030 Agenda, particularly Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 on building effective, accountable and inclusive institutions. At the same time, there has been a long-standing decline in political trust within democratic countries, which presents a considerable obstacle to the enactment of sustainable development policies. Although prior research has explored the relationship between economic conditions and political trust, evidence on how different dimensions of inequality jointly shape trust remains limited. This study addresses this gap by analysing how economic inequality, regional economic disparities, and subjective income perceptions affect political trust. Using data from the European Social Survey (Round 9), we estimate multilevel models that account for both individual- and country-level factors. The results demonstrate a negative relationship between individual income and political trust, while lower economic inequality strengthens this negative relationship. Our findings highlight that reducing economic inequality is crucial for enhancing political trust, suggesting that governments should prioritize equitable resource distribution and address regional disparities to foster trust in institutions. By integrating subjective well-being with objective economic indicators, this research offers a comprehensive view of how inequality affects political trust across the EU countries and outlines institutional and distributive conditions that support progress toward the SDGs.
Date of online publication
24.12.2025
Pages (from - to)
210-1 - 210-22
Comments
Article number: 210
License type
CC BY (attribution alone)
Open Access Mode
open journal
Open Access Text Version
final published version
Date of Open Access to the publication
at the time of publication
Full text of article
Access level to full text
public
Ministry points / journal
100
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