Citizen satisfaction with democracy in Australia
Australia: Citizen satisfaction with democracy was 0.6908 in 2020. ▼ Falling
Citizen satisfaction with democracy in Australia, 1996–2020
Source: Claassen (2022) – processed by Our World in Data.
Analysis
Australia recorded 0.6908 for citizen satisfaction with democracy in 2020.
The figure is up 0.3% on the previous year and down 46.6% over ten years.
Over the whole period, citizen satisfaction with democracy in Australia peaked at 1.58 in 2007 and was at its lowest, 0.6851, in 2018.
Australia ranks 32nd of 131 countries on this measure, in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 25 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 1.28 | 1.23 | 1.32 | 4 |
| 2000s | 1.45 | 1.35 | 1.58 | 10 |
| 2010s | 0.9248 | 0.6851 | 1.29 | 10 |
| 2020s | 0.6908 | 0.6908 | 0.6908 | 1 |
Countries ranked near Australia
More social development data for Australia
- Political Rights Rating 1 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of asy 33,415 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of ori 41 (2025)
- Electoral democracy 1 (2025)
- Key features of democracy 0.844 (2025)
- Freedom of Expression Index 0.915 (2025)
- Freedom of Association Index 0.876 (2025)
- Electoral Democracy Index 0.844 (2025)
- Participatory Democracy Index 0.648 (2025)
- Liberal Democracy Index 0.793 (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is citizen satisfaction with democracy in Australia?
- Citizen satisfaction with democracy in Australia was 0.6908 in 2020, according to Claassen (2022) – processed by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest citizen satisfaction with democracy recorded in Australia?
- The highest recorded value was 1.58 in 2007.
- What is the lowest citizen satisfaction with democracy recorded in Australia?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.6851 in 2018.
- How does Australia rank for citizen satisfaction with democracy?
- Australia ranks 32nd out of 131 countries with data for 2020.
- Is citizen satisfaction with democracy rising or falling in Australia?
- Over the last ten years it is down 46.6%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Australia data come from?
- The figures come from Claassen (2022) – processed by Our World in Data, published as part of Citizen satisfaction with democracy. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 25 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Central estimate of the average extent to which citizens are satisfied with democracy in their own country. It combines responses across more than one thousand nationally-representative surveys on how citizens' satisfaction with democracy.