Citizen satisfaction with democracy in Hungary
Hungary: Citizen satisfaction with democracy was 0.2076 in 2020. ◆ Volatile
Citizen satisfaction with democracy in Hungary, 1990–2020
Source: Claassen (2022) – processed by Our World in Data.
Analysis
Hungary recorded 0.2076 for citizen satisfaction with democracy in 2020. That is the highest value across all 31 years on record.
The figure is up 17.2% on the previous year and up 124.0% over ten years.
Over the whole period, citizen satisfaction with democracy in Hungary peaked at 0.2076 in 2020 and was at its lowest, -1.29, in 2008.
Hungary ranks 52nd of 131 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.
The series is highly variable year to year, so single readings are best treated with caution.
Citizen satisfaction with democracy in Hungary, year by year
| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1990 | -1.11 | — |
| 1991 | -0.9897 | -10.9% |
| 1992 | -1.08 | +9.4% |
| 1993 | -1.15 | +5.8% |
| 1994 | -1.12 | -2.6% |
| 1995 | -1.15 | +3.0% |
| 1996 | -1.08 | -6.3% |
| 1997 | -0.8626 | -19.9% |
| 1998 | -0.7937 | -8.0% |
| 1999 | -0.7233 | -8.9% |
| 2000 | -0.6858 | -5.2% |
| 2001 | -0.6434 | -6.2% |
| 2002 | -0.6015 | -6.5% |
| 2003 | -0.6757 | +12.3% |
| 2004 | -0.7481 | +10.7% |
| 2005 | -0.9221 | +23.3% |
| 2006 | -0.9201 | -0.2% |
| 2007 | -1.17 | +27.2% |
| 2008 | -1.29 | +10.3% |
| 2009 | -1.08 | -16.7% |
| 2010 | -0.8646 | -19.6% |
| 2011 | -0.8767 | +1.4% |
| 2012 | -0.81 | -7.6% |
| 2013 | -0.7125 | -12.0% |
| 2014 | -0.5972 | -16.2% |
| 2015 | -0.4098 | -31.4% |
| 2016 | -0.2415 | -41.1% |
| 2017 | -0.1077 | -55.4% |
| 2018 | 0.0001 | -100.1% |
| 2019 | 0.1772 | +131151.7% |
| 2020 | 0.2076 | +17.2% |
Hungary compared with similar countries
- Hungary's 0.2076 is below the median for high income countries, which is 0.303, 69% of the median. (47 countries reporting)
- Hungary's 0.2076 is above the median for Europe & Central Asia, which is -0.0062. (46 countries reporting)
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where Citizen satisfaction with democracy in Hungary changed far more than this series normally does. A large move can be a real event or a change in how the figure was measured — the source note below says who published it.
| Year | Change | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | +131151.7% | 0.0001 | 0.1772 |
| 2018 | +100.1% | -0.1077 | 0.0001 |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | -1.01 | -1.15 | -0.7233 | 10 |
| 2000s | -0.8733 | -1.29 | -0.6015 | 10 |
| 2010s | -0.4443 | -0.8767 | 0.1772 | 10 |
| 2020s | 0.2076 | 0.2076 | 0.2076 | 1 |
Countries ranked near Hungary
More social development data for Hungary
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 71,332 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 2,055 (2025)
- Political Rights Rating 3 (2025)
- Electoral democracy 1 (2025)
- Political rights rating fh, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Political rights rating fh, gaps filled 3 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0.0002 units per person (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 2,055 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0.0075 units per person (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0 units per US$ of GDP (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is citizen satisfaction with democracy in Hungary?
- Citizen satisfaction with democracy in Hungary was 0.2076 in 2020, according to Claassen (2022) – processed by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest citizen satisfaction with democracy recorded in Hungary?
- The highest recorded value was 0.2076 in 2020.
- What is the lowest citizen satisfaction with democracy recorded in Hungary?
- The lowest recorded value was -1.29 in 2008.
- How does Hungary rank for citizen satisfaction with democracy?
- Hungary ranks 52nd out of 131 countries with data for 2020.
- Is citizen satisfaction with democracy rising or falling in Hungary?
- Over the last ten years it is up 124.0%. The long-run trend across the full record is volatile.
- Where does this Hungary 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 — 31 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.