Citizen satisfaction with democracy in United States
United States: Citizen satisfaction with democracy was 0.3425 in 2020. ▼ Falling
Citizen satisfaction with democracy in United States, 1996–2020
Source: Claassen (2022) – processed by Our World in Data.
Analysis
United States recorded 0.3425 for citizen satisfaction with democracy in 2020.
That represents a change of up 0.7% on the previous year and down 39.1% over ten years.
Over the whole period, citizen satisfaction with democracy in United States peaked at 0.8512 in 2008 and was at its lowest, 0.2237, in 2018.
United States ranks 44th of 131 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 25 years of available data.
Citizen satisfaction with democracy in United States, year by year
| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 0.8024 | — |
| 1997 | 0.78 | -2.8% |
| 1998 | 0.7523 | -3.6% |
| 1999 | 0.7354 | -2.2% |
| 2000 | 0.7457 | +1.4% |
| 2001 | 0.7599 | +1.9% |
| 2002 | 0.7728 | +1.7% |
| 2003 | 0.7909 | +2.3% |
| 2004 | 0.8025 | +1.5% |
| 2005 | 0.8134 | +1.4% |
| 2006 | 0.8272 | +1.7% |
| 2007 | 0.8403 | +1.6% |
| 2008 | 0.8512 | +1.3% |
| 2009 | 0.7022 | -17.5% |
| 2010 | 0.5625 | -19.9% |
| 2011 | 0.4971 | -11.6% |
| 2012 | 0.4367 | -12.1% |
| 2013 | 0.394 | -9.8% |
| 2014 | 0.3486 | -11.5% |
| 2015 | 0.3227 | -7.4% |
| 2016 | 0.3017 | -6.5% |
| 2017 | 0.2796 | -7.3% |
| 2018 | 0.2237 | -20.0% |
| 2019 | 0.3401 | +52.1% |
| 2020 | 0.3425 | +0.7% |
United States compared with similar countries
- United States's 0.3425 is above the median for high income countries, which is 0.303, 1.1× the median. (47 countries reporting)
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where Citizen satisfaction with democracy in United States 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 | +52.1% | 0.2237 | 0.3401 |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 0.7675 | 0.7354 | 0.8024 | 4 |
| 2000s | 0.7906 | 0.7022 | 0.8512 | 10 |
| 2010s | 0.3707 | 0.2237 | 0.5625 | 10 |
| 2020s | 0.3425 | 0.3425 | 0.3425 | 1 |
Countries ranked near United States
More social development data for United States
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 457,647 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 3,667 (2025)
- Political Rights Rating 2 (2025)
- Electoral democracy 1 (2025)
- Political rights rating fh, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Political rights rating fh, gaps filled 2 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0 units per person (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 3,667 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0.0013 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 United States?
- Citizen satisfaction with democracy in United States was 0.3425 in 2020, according to Claassen (2022) – processed by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest citizen satisfaction with democracy recorded in United States?
- The highest recorded value was 0.8512 in 2008.
- What is the lowest citizen satisfaction with democracy recorded in United States?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.2237 in 2018.
- How does United States rank for citizen satisfaction with democracy?
- United States ranks 44th out of 131 countries with data for 2020.
- Is citizen satisfaction with democracy rising or falling in United States?
- Over the last ten years it is down 39.1%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this United States 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.