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Fire fighting voted most trusted profession in Germany

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Fire fighting voted most trusted profession in Germany
Photo: DPA

Fire fighters are the most trusted professionals in Germany for the seventh year running, according to a survey for “Reader’s Digest Deutschland” magazine released this week.

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According to the ninth annual “European Trusted Brands 2009” survey, some 93 percent of Germans surveyed said they had a “fairly high” or “very high” level of trust in fire fighting personnel. They were closely followed by pilots (91 percent) or nurses (90 percent). Politicians finished in last place, with just 7 percent of those surveyed expressing any trust in them. In 2003, 12 percent of people trusted politicians.

Meanwhile journalists were ranked a step below lawyers with just a 24 percent trust level among Germans.

The police took sixth place (75 percent) in the survey, just behind pharmacists (86 percent) and doctors (84 percent). Teachers (59 percent) ranked just above judges (58 percent).

The survey spanned 16 countries across Europe, and most countries also ranked fire fighting among their top three most trusted professions, while politicians frequently ranked last place.

Those in Eastern Europe had much less trust in the law and the state than in the West. In Russia, just 23 percent of people trusted the police, whereas an impressive 56 percent trusted footballers (the European average was 21 percent).

More than 23,000 people took part in the study across Europe between September and October of 2008. Some 7,000 participants were in Germany.

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