A new survey shows South Korea's trust in businesses and the media are the lowest among major countries.

Global public relations firm Edelman released the results of its "Trust Barometer" for 2023, which surveyed over 32,000 respondents in 28 countries last year.

The survey found that businesses remained the most trusted institution globally with 62 percent of respondents viewing them positively, while 51 percent said they trusted governments and 50 percent expressed trust in the media.

In South Korea, however, trust in businesses came in at a mere 38 percent, while 34 percent trusted the government and trust in the media registered 27 percent, putting the nation at the bottom of the list for trust in business and the media.

Only six countries, including France, China and Saudi Arabia, had more trust in the government than businesses.

This year's report also showed that economic optimism has collapsed globally with a ten percentage point drop on-year to 40 percent believing that their lives will be better over the next five years.