“This article is published as part of the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Measuring National Well-being Programme. The programme aims to produce accepted and trusted measures of the well-being of the nation – how the UK as a whole is doing. This article explores in more detail aspects of governance considered important for understanding National Well-being. It considers information on forms of civic engagement, notably satisfaction with government and democracy, interest in politics and participation in politics…Key Points:

• Nearly a quarter (24%) of people aged 15 and over reported that they ‘tended to trust’ the government in the UK in autumn 2013.
• Those aged 16 to 24 were more likely to state no interest at all in politics (42%) than those aged 65 and over (21%) in the UK in 2011–12.
• Over 6 in 10 (64%) of adults aged 18 and over in the UK in 2011–12, agreed or strongly agreed that they would seriously be neglecting their duty as a citizen if they didn’t vote.
• Voter turnout in UK General Elections peaked in 1950 with over 8 in 10 (82%) of the electorate voting, in 2010 the turnout was 61%.
• A lower proportion (57%) agreed they found politics too complicated to understand in 2012 compared with 69% in 1986 in Great Britain.
• A lower proportion (60%) agreed that ‘voting is the only way to have any say’ in 2012, compared with 73% in 1994 in Great Britain.”