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Liburkina L. M.

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Interpersonal Trust and Population Welfare: A Statistical Analysis of Interrelationships of Indicators
Merkulova T. V., Bohdanova H. S.

Merkulova, Tamara V., and Bohdanova, Hanna S. (2025) “Interpersonal Trust and Population Welfare: A Statistical Analysis of Interrelationships of Indicators.” Business Inform 10:238–245.
https://doi.org/10.32983/2222-4459-2025-10-238-245

Section: Economic statistics

Article is written in Ukrainian
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UDC 338.1:316.33:311.2

Abstract:
The article is devoted to examining interpersonal trust as an important social and economic factor in the sustainable development of countries. The aim of the study is to empirically test the hypothesis of a positive statistically significant relationship between the level of interpersonal trust and welfare indicators, which reflect the main aspects of human life and are directly linked to the sustainable development goals: economy, human development, security, justice, and integrity. The study is based on data from the seventh wave of the World Values Survey (2017–2022), conducted in 92 countries worldwide between 2017 and 2022 to assess the level of interpersonal trust among the population. The research employed statistical methods, including correlation analysis. The results indicate a moderate positive relationship between trust and GDP per capita, as well as between trust and the Human Development Index. We identified weaker but moderate positive correlations of trust with the Economic Freedom Index and the Corruption Perceptions Index. The analysis of the overall data sample provided grounds for hypothesizing that in European Union countries these correlations should be stronger, which was confirmed by calculations: the correlation coefficients indicate a strong or moderate level of association compared to the overall sample and the sample consisting of non-EU countries. The analysis supports the notion that the causal relationship between trust and socioeconomic development is bidirectional: at lower levels of development, it serves as a factor in the formation and reinforcement of trust within society, and later, once a certain level is reached, trust becomes a resource for further development and for maintaining the stability of socioeconomic processes.

Keywords: trust, sustainable development, well-being indicators, economic freedom, perception of corruption.

Fig.: 1. Tabl.: 7. Bibl.: 23.

Merkulova Tamara V. – Doctor of Sciences (Economics), Professor, Professor, Department of Economic Cybernetics and Applied Economics, V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University (4 Svobody Square, Kharkіv, 61022, Ukraine)
Email: [email protected]
Bohdanova Hanna S. – Postgraduate Student, Department of Economic Cybernetics and Applied Economics, V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University (4 Svobody Square, Kharkіv, 61022, Ukraine)
Email: [email protected]

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