Citizen support for democracy in Finland
Finland: Citizen support for democracy was 1.6 in 2020. ▲ Rising
Citizen support for democracy in Finland, 1996–2020
Source: Claassen (2022) – processed by Our World in Data.
Analysis
In 2020, citizen support for democracy in Finland stood at 1.6.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 0.3% on the previous year and up 46.9% over ten years.
Over the whole period, citizen support for democracy in Finland peaked at 1.62 in 2017 and was at its lowest, 0.378, in 1996.
Finland ranks 11th of 144 countries on this measure, in the top 10%.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 25 years of available data.
Citizen support for democracy in Finland, year by year
| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 0.378 | — |
| 1997 | 0.4948 | +30.9% |
| 1998 | 0.5828 | +17.8% |
| 1999 | 0.6702 | +15.0% |
| 2000 | 0.7577 | +13.1% |
| 2001 | 0.8251 | +8.9% |
| 2002 | 0.8982 | +8.9% |
| 2003 | 0.9639 | +7.3% |
| 2004 | 1.03 | +7.0% |
| 2005 | 1.09 | +6.1% |
| 2006 | 1.07 | -2.5% |
| 2007 | 1.04 | -2.5% |
| 2008 | 1.02 | -1.6% |
| 2009 | 1 | -2.3% |
| 2010 | 1.09 | +9.0% |
| 2011 | 1.19 | +9.0% |
| 2012 | 1.28 | +7.9% |
| 2013 | 1.35 | +5.1% |
| 2014 | 1.41 | +4.6% |
| 2015 | 1.48 | +4.7% |
| 2016 | 1.55 | +4.9% |
| 2017 | 1.62 | +4.4% |
| 2018 | 1.61 | -0.5% |
| 2019 | 1.6 | -0.7% |
| 2020 | 1.6 | +0.3% |
Finland compared with similar countries
- Finland's 1.6 is above the median for high income countries, which is 0.3338, 4.8× the median. (50 countries reporting)
- Finland's 1.6 is above the median for Europe & Central Asia, which is 0.1715, 9.3× the median. (48 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 0.5314 | 0.378 | 0.6702 | 4 |
| 2000s | 0.97 | 0.7577 | 1.09 | 10 |
| 2010s | 1.42 | 1.09 | 1.62 | 10 |
| 2020s | 1.6 | 1.6 | 1.6 | 1 |
Countries ranked near Finland
More social development data for Finland
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 102,544 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 5 (2025)
- Political Rights Rating 1 (2025)
- Electoral democracy 1 (2025)
- Political rights rating fh, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Political rights rating fh, gaps filled 1 (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 5 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0.0182 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 Finland?
- Citizen support for democracy in Finland was 1.6 in 2020, according to Claassen (2022) – processed by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest citizen support for democracy recorded in Finland?
- The highest recorded value was 1.62 in 2017.
- What is the lowest citizen support for democracy recorded in Finland?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.378 in 1996.
- How does Finland rank for citizen support for democracy?
- Finland ranks 11th out of 144 countries with data for 2020.
- Is citizen support for democracy rising or falling in Finland?
- Over the last ten years it is up 46.9%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Finland 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 — 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 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.