Time to Deliver: Global Polls on Public Trust, the UN, and Its Next Leader

The need for “blueprints without borders” to address “problems without passports,” as former Secretary-General Kofi Annan called them, is clear. The question is whether the current international system can keep pace and deliver.

In September, the UN Foundation and GeoPoll asked 5,000 people in 20 countries what they want from the UN and its next leader. The poll covers all 15 members of the Security Council, including several countries that are rarely polled, along with Brazil, India, Mexico, Nigeria, and South Africa. Together, these 20 countries are home to 56% of the world’s population.

Other organizations conducted similar surveys. Earlier in the year, Devex surveyed 601 development professionals who work in and around the UN, and the Rockefeller Foundation and Focaldata polled more than 35,000 people in 34 countries. While their samples and methods were different, these surveys, when read side by side, point in a similar direction. Where they meet shows what the UN’s top priority should be, how the UN can earn trust, and how it should respond to a changing world.

Same Verdict, Different Reasons

Experts and the public agree on more than one might expect. Despite increasing pressure on international institutions, both groups consider the UN essential. The world has not lost faith in the institution but is losing patience with how it delivers.

Asked whether the UN is still necessary, 84% of respondents in the UN Foundation poll said yes. When Devex asked its experts whether the UN is necessary to achieve global development goals, it found exactly the same share. Similarly, 58% of the public in the UN Foundation poll and 62% of the public in the Rockefeller Foundation poll trust the UN, although trust is 21 points higher among respondents in the Global South than the Global North. Six in 10 experts in the Devex survey hold a positive view of the UN system.

That broad support, however, comes with a clear demand for change. Despite recognizing the importance of the UN and viewing it in a mostly positive light, 52% of the public and 62% of experts believe the UN needs major structural reform.

Where they diverge is in how they understand the problem. While the public tends to judge the UN by what it delivers, or fails to deliver, experts tend to focus on the machinery of the system itself.

Among members of the public who distrust the UN, the top critiques are what they see from the outside: laws that go unenforced (56%) and a system dominated by a few powerful countries (51%). Impatience with the UN’s bureaucracy ranks third at 35%.

From inside the system, experts identify a different set of obstacles. Bureaucracy is their top area for improvement (65%). The inability to apply effective sanctions ranks second (43%), echoing the public’s frustration with the UN’s limited enforcement power. This is followed by lack of cooperation among Member States (41%) and lack of inclusive decision-making (35%).

The difference carries over to leadership style. The public favors an outward-looking leader: a diplomat to navigate geopolitical tensions (28%), a crisis manager to lead emergency responses (26%), or a moral voice (25%) to speak out on issues such as rights or climate change. Only 17% say the next Secretary-General should primarily be an internal reformer. Experts, by contrast, put reform near the top of the agenda. In the Devex survey, UN reform ranks as the second priority for the next Secretary-General at 58%, and 73% believe reform will produce better outcomes.

Taken together, these surveys reveal a tension the next Secretary-General must navigate. The public wants to see the UN deliver; insiders believe changing how the UN works is essential to delivering those results. The challenge is ensuring that reform translates into results.

Peace as a Priority

While perspectives diverge on priorities for UN reform, there’s far less ambiguity on priorities for international cooperation. Experts and the public agree that peace must come first.

In the UN Foundation poll, 58% of the public ranked peace and security as one of the top priorities for global action. The Rockefeller Foundation poll yielded similar results, with peace and security taking the top spot in 21 of the 34 countries surveyed.

Peace is also the top priority for UN insiders: 74% of respondents in the Devex survey named global conflict and security as the top priority for the next Secretary-General.

With conflicts dominating global headlines, this comes as no surprise. But there’s also a practical side: Peace is often a precondition for reducing poverty and inequality, the second most urgent priority in the UN Foundation survey (45%).

A 2026 International Rescue Committee report shows a clear link between conflict and poverty: By 2030, more than half of those living in extreme poverty are projected to live in just 20 conflict-affected countries. In those countries, children are three times as likely to receive no vaccines at all, leaving them vulnerable to deadly but preventable diseases.

If the UN is to deliver meaningful results for people around the world, insiders and outsiders agree that peace must come first. As the foundation for sustainable development and lasting progress, peace is not just a priority in its own right; it is what makes progress possible on other priorities.

From Trust to Delivery

The shared commitment to peace underscores the enduring importance of the UN’s work. But belief in that mission does not necessarily translate into confidence in its ability to deliver.

While surveys put trust in the UN between 58% and 62%, that trust appears rooted more in its principles (57%) than in results. Four in 10 people trust the UN because they believe it is the only realistic way to solve collective problems. Similarly, nearly 90% of respondents in the UN Foundation poll agree that even the most powerful nations need international partnerships to protect their people. The Rockefeller Foundation poll found that only 39% of respondents are comfortable with the U.S. playing a leading role on the world stage, versus 37% comfortable with China playing a leading role. Less than half of those who trust in the UN (41%) say they do so because of its work on peace, health, or development.

Likewise, more than half of respondents (52%) in the UN Foundation poll said the UN is necessary but struggling to deliver, and 81% of respondents in the Rockefeller Foundation poll said they would be more supportive of international cooperation if it proved it could solve global problems. The message is clear: The world has not abandoned the idea of collective action, but people want to see it work.

While the public has strong views on what they want from the UN’s next leader, the Secretary-General race has yet to break through. A full 85% of global citizens have heard little to nothing about the Secretary-General race, and while official candidates are not entirely unknown, averaging 19% name recognition, they have yet to achieve wider public visibility. Still, six in 10 respondents say it is important for the UN to break with 80 years of history and appoint a woman to be Secretary-General.

The tenure of the next Secretary-General will start with public goodwill that rests on what the UN stands for; it will hold only if the UN and its leadership can deliver the results the world craves.