Citizen satisfaction with democracy in Malaysia
Malaysia: Citizen satisfaction with democracy was 1.04 in 2020. ▼ Falling
Citizen satisfaction with democracy in Malaysia, 2003–2020
Source: Claassen (2022) – processed by Our World in Data.
Analysis
In 2020, citizen satisfaction with democracy in Malaysia stood at 1.04.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 0.1% on the previous year and down 21.4% over ten years.
Over the whole period, citizen satisfaction with democracy in Malaysia peaked at 1.63 in 2004 and was at its lowest, 1.04, in 2019.
That places Malaysia 19th out of 131 countries with data for 2020, putting it in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 18 years of available data.
Citizen satisfaction with democracy in Malaysia, year by year
| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2003 | 1.49 | — |
| 2004 | 1.63 | +9.6% |
| 2005 | 1.57 | -3.6% |
| 2006 | 1.52 | -3.0% |
| 2007 | 1.47 | -3.7% |
| 2008 | 1.42 | -3.0% |
| 2009 | 1.38 | -3.2% |
| 2010 | 1.33 | -3.5% |
| 2011 | 1.28 | -3.3% |
| 2012 | 1.21 | -6.0% |
| 2013 | 1.13 | -6.5% |
| 2014 | 1.05 | -6.9% |
| 2015 | 1.05 | +0.1% |
| 2016 | 1.05 | -0.2% |
| 2017 | 1.05 | -0.1% |
| 2018 | 1.05 | -0.2% |
| 2019 | 1.04 | -0.3% |
| 2020 | 1.04 | +0.1% |
Malaysia compared with similar countries
- Malaysia's 1.04 is above the median for upper middle income countries, which is -0.364. (41 countries reporting)
- Malaysia's 1.04 is above the median for East Asia & Pacific, which is 0.7476, 1.4× the median. (14 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 1.5 | 1.38 | 1.63 | 7 |
| 2010s | 1.12 | 1.04 | 1.33 | 10 |
| 2020s | 1.04 | 1.04 | 1.04 | 1 |
Countries ranked near Malaysia
More social development data for Malaysia
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 150,164 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 2,477 (2025)
- Political Rights Rating 4 (2025)
- Electoral democracy 1 (2025)
- Political rights rating fh, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Political rights rating fh, gaps filled 4 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0.0001 units per person (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 2,477 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0.0042 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 Malaysia?
- Citizen satisfaction with democracy in Malaysia was 1.04 in 2020, according to Claassen (2022) – processed by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest citizen satisfaction with democracy recorded in Malaysia?
- The highest recorded value was 1.63 in 2004.
- What is the lowest citizen satisfaction with democracy recorded in Malaysia?
- The lowest recorded value was 1.04 in 2019.
- How does Malaysia rank for citizen satisfaction with democracy?
- Malaysia ranks 19th out of 131 countries with data for 2020.
- Is citizen satisfaction with democracy rising or falling in Malaysia?
- Over the last ten years it is down 21.4%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Malaysia 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 — 18 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.