Citizen support for democracy in Bulgaria
Bulgaria: Citizen support for democracy was -0.4845 in 2020. ▲ Rising
Citizen support for democracy in Bulgaria, 1990–2020
Source: Claassen (2022) – processed by Our World in Data.
Analysis
In 2020, citizen support for democracy in Bulgaria stood at -0.4845.
That represents a change of up 0.3% on the previous year and up 44.0% over ten years.
Over the whole period, citizen support for democracy in Bulgaria peaked at -0.4825 in 2017 and was at its lowest, -1.45, in 1992.
That places Bulgaria 81st out of 144 countries with data for 2020, putting it in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 31 years of available data.
Citizen support for democracy in Bulgaria, year by year
| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1990 | -0.9239 | — |
| 1991 | -1.19 | +28.9% |
| 1992 | -1.45 | +21.7% |
| 1993 | -1.2 | -17.1% |
| 1994 | -0.9403 | -21.7% |
| 1995 | -0.6726 | -28.5% |
| 1996 | -0.7734 | +15.0% |
| 1997 | -0.871 | +12.6% |
| 1998 | -0.8148 | -6.5% |
| 1999 | -0.9815 | +20.5% |
| 2000 | -0.9177 | -6.5% |
| 2001 | -0.8574 | -6.6% |
| 2002 | -0.9492 | +10.7% |
| 2003 | -1.02 | +7.0% |
| 2004 | -1.08 | +6.4% |
| 2005 | -1 | -7.4% |
| 2006 | -0.9492 | -5.1% |
| 2007 | -0.9018 | -5.0% |
| 2008 | -0.9522 | +5.6% |
| 2009 | -0.9901 | +4.0% |
| 2010 | -0.8659 | -12.5% |
| 2011 | -0.7512 | -13.2% |
| 2012 | -0.6258 | -16.7% |
| 2013 | -0.5975 | -4.5% |
| 2014 | -0.5689 | -4.8% |
| 2015 | -0.5418 | -4.8% |
| 2016 | -0.5132 | -5.3% |
| 2017 | -0.4825 | -6.0% |
| 2018 | -0.4843 | +0.4% |
| 2019 | -0.4862 | +0.4% |
| 2020 | -0.4845 | -0.3% |
Bulgaria compared with similar countries
- Bulgaria's -0.4845 is below the median for high income countries, which is 0.3338. (50 countries reporting)
- Bulgaria's -0.4845 is below the median for Europe & Central Asia, which is 0.1715. (48 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | -0.982 | -1.45 | -0.6726 | 10 |
| 2000s | -0.9615 | -1.08 | -0.8574 | 10 |
| 2010s | -0.5917 | -0.8659 | -0.4825 | 10 |
| 2020s | -0.4845 | -0.4845 | -0.4845 | 1 |
Countries ranked near Bulgaria
More social development data for Bulgaria
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 105,596 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 533 (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 0.0001 units per person (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 533 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0.0164 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 support for democracy in Bulgaria?
- Citizen support for democracy in Bulgaria was -0.4845 in 2020, according to Claassen (2022) – processed by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest citizen support for democracy recorded in Bulgaria?
- The highest recorded value was -0.4825 in 2017.
- What is the lowest citizen support for democracy recorded in Bulgaria?
- The lowest recorded value was -1.45 in 1992.
- How does Bulgaria rank for citizen support for democracy?
- Bulgaria ranks 81st out of 144 countries with data for 2020.
- Is citizen support for democracy rising or falling in Bulgaria?
- Over the last ten years it is up 44.0%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Bulgaria data come from?
- The figures come from Claassen (2022) – processed by Our World in Data, published as part of Citizen support for 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 support a democratic political system and reject autocratic alternatives. It combines responses across more than one thousand nationally-representative surveys on how desirable citizens find democracy, how they evaluate undemocratic alternatives (such as a strong unelected leader, the army, or religious authorities), and how they assess democratic and autocratic political systems relative to another.