Only 10% of Australians believe general insurance brokers are highly ethical or honest, down from 11% a year ago, according to a Roy Morgan survey.

Brokers have not rated above 15% since being added to the Roy Morgan Image of Professions survey in the mid-1980s.

This year’s study asked 648 Australians to rate various occupations for honesty and ethical standards, from very high to very low.

The only professions considered very trustworthy by fewer people were car sales (4%), advertising (5%) and real estate (7%).

Stockbrokers and talkback radio announcers fared slightly better at 11% and 14%.

Meanwhile, one-quarter of Australians rate financial planners as very ethical and honest – a figure that has remained consistent since they were added to the survey in 2010.

Nurses have 94% of the country’s confidence, slightly ahead of doctors (89%) and pharmacists (84%), followed by schoolteachers, engineers, dentists and police.

In this year’s survey 12 professions improved their reputations, 16 deteriorated and another two were unchanged.