Key Findings
Across the globe, democracy is in a state of malaise. In the mid-1990s, a majority of
citizens in countries for which we have time-series data – in North America, Latin America,
Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Australasia – were satisfied with the performance of
their democracies. Since then, the share of individuals who are “dissatisfied” with democracy
has risen by around +10% points, from 47.9 to 57.5%.
This is the highest level of global dissatisfaction since the start of the series in 1995.
After a large increase in civic dissatisfaction in the prior decade, 2019 represents the highest
level of democratic discontent on record.
The rise in democratic dissatisfaction has been especially sharp since 2005. The year
that marks the beginning of the so-called “global democratic recession” is also the high
point for global satisfaction with democracy, with just 38.7% of citizens dissatisfied in that
year. Since then, the proportion of “dissatisfied” citizens has risen by almost one-fifth of the
population (+18.8%).
Many of the world’s most populous democracies – including the United States, Brazil,
Nigeria, and Mexico – have led the downward trend. In the United States, levels of dissatisfaction with democracy have risen by over a third of the population in one generation.
As a result, many large democracies are at their highest-ever recorded level for democratic dissatisfaction. These include the United States, Brazil, Mexico, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Colombia, and Australia. Other countries that remain close to their all-time
highs include Japan, Spain, and Greece.
Citizens of developed democracies have also experienced a large increase in democratic dissatisfaction. While in the 1990s, around two-thirds of the citizens of Europe, North America, Northeast Asia and Australasia felt satisfied with democracy in their countries, today a majority feel dissatisfied.
While it goes beyond the scope of this report to explain the cause of this shift, we observe that citizens’ levels of dissatisfaction with democracy are largely responsive to objective circumstances and events – economic shocks, corruption scandals, and policy crises.
These have an immediately observable effect upon average levels of civic dissatisfaction.
However, the picture is not entirely negative. Many small, high-income democracies have moved in the direction of greater civic confidence in their institutions. In Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, for example, democratic satisfaction is reaching all-time highs. These countries form part of the “island of contentment” – a select group of nations, containing just 2% of the world’s democratic citizenry, in which less than a quarter of the public express discontent with their political system.
Comparison by region shows a number of other bright spots, above all in Asia. In
democracies in South Asia, Northeast Asia, and above all in Southeast Asia, levels of civic
contentment are significantly higher than in other regions. For now, much of Asia has
avoided the crisis of democratic faith affecting other parts of the world.