Scientists held their ground, science did not: public trust in 95 countries before and after the Covid-19 pandemic

Trust in science, an institution, and trust in scientists, its practitioners, are usually read as one. In Wellcome Global Monitor microdata for 95 countries surveyed in the same mode in 2018 and 2025, with nearly four billion adults, I compared the two questions each respondent answered. Strong trust in scientists rose slightly, tracking trust in doctors, nurses and journalists. Strong trust in science fell from 34% to 30% in the average country, losing ground relative to every other group asked about. Science led scientists in 2018; by 2025 the order had reversed, a 5.5-point swing (95% CI 4.1 to 6.9), about 150 million adults; 112 alternative analyses pointed the same way. Telephone interviewing was associated with about 6 points higher strong trust in science, a caution for mixed-mode trends. Scientists were judged like other institutions; science lost standing on its own. Surveys asking only about scientists would miss it.