Trust, life satisfaction and health: Population data in mid-size city in the Global South

Abstract

This paper describes a dataset about institutional and interpersonal trust, life satisfaction and health in Cali, one of the major cities in Colombia, South America. Data was collected with the purpose of monitoring trust levels in the population and to serve as baseline information to monitor changes in population trust after the implementation of government interventions aimed at increasing institutional trust. Data was collected in 2017 with subsequent waves in 2018 and 2019, this manuscript presents data collected in 2017, which corresponds to the data analyzed in the paper related to this manuscript. The information was gathered through a population survey to over 1200 adults' city residents, randomly selected in face to face interviews. Data described also reports information on life satisfaction, physical and mental health, and socioeconomic characteristics. This information is useful for policy making purposes insofar as allow the monitoring of outcomes that are relevant for local and national governments that implement programs that affect trust, subjective well-being and health. Taken as a whole, data also allow to build composite indicators for interpersonal and institutional trust and social capital. This research was fully financed by Universidad Icesi through the Observatorio de Políticas Públicas –POLIS- to monitor citizens' perceptions of a different array of government interventions that affect the outcomes in which data was collected. Measures on trust, life satisfaction, and health follow international measurement standards set by the OEDC and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to allow international comparisons.