[Image from Edelman Trust Barometer 2022 China/provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Ninety-one percent of Chinese respondents said they trusted the Chinese government, according to the Edelman Trust Barometer 2022 China, an annual online survey in its 22nd year.

The Chinese government saw trust increase 9 percentage points from 2021 to 2022, said the report co-released by Tsinghua University's National Image Research Center and Edelman.

In May 2020, the Chinese government had the trust of 95 percent of respondents, the report said.

[Image from Edelman Trust Barometer 2022 China/provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

China was the biggest gainer on the trust index list followed by the UAE and Thailand, while trust fell sharply in other countries and trust in the US decreasing greatly.

The report, titled "Breaking the Cycle of Distrust", also indicated developed countries lack economic optimism and 52 percent of respondents question capitalism and believes as it exists today it does more harm than good in the world.

The China-US trust divergence widened to an all-time high with China's trust index as high as 83, compared with the United States' 43.

Chinese people's trust in business, media and NGOs increased 14, 10 and 12 percentage points to reach 84, 80 and 77 percent among respondents in China from 2021 to 2022.

[Image from Edelman Trust Barometer 2022 China/provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Companies headquartered in China won the trust of 92 percent of Chinese respondents, followed by companies headquartered in Germany and France with 71 and 65 percent of respondents respectively naming them as trustworthy.

Traditional media, search engines and social media are the top three news sources in China, gaining 79, 76 and 71 percent trust in China from 2021 to 2022.

The report shows societal leadership is now considered a core business function, with business and NGOs believed to be competent and effective drivers to promote positive change in society.

The top three societal issues respondents said businesses need to engage with more include climate change, economic inequality and access to health care.

China's employers had the trust of 89 percent of respondents, ranking third on My Employer Trusted around the World List following Indonesia and India.

The 2022 Edelman Trust Barometer was conducted from Nov 1 to 24, 2021 among respondents from 28 countries.