Citizen support for democracy in France
France: Citizen support for democracy was 0.8361 in 2020. ▲ Rising
Citizen support for democracy in France, 1988–2020
Source: Claassen (2022) – processed by Our World in Data.
Analysis
France recorded 0.8361 for citizen support for democracy in 2020.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 0.6% on the previous year and down 15.4% over ten years.
Over the whole period, citizen support for democracy in France peaked at 1.09 in 2008 and was at its lowest, 0.4865, in 1997.
France ranks 22nd of 144 countries on this measure, in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 33 years of available data.
Citizen support for democracy in France, year by year
| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1988 | 0.7389 | — |
| 1989 | 0.7332 | -0.8% |
| 1990 | 0.7201 | -1.8% |
| 1991 | 0.7102 | -1.4% |
| 1992 | 0.7035 | -0.9% |
| 1993 | 0.6578 | -6.5% |
| 1994 | 0.6115 | -7.0% |
| 1995 | 0.5645 | -7.7% |
| 1996 | 0.5294 | -6.2% |
| 1997 | 0.4865 | -8.1% |
| 1998 | 0.5173 | +6.3% |
| 1999 | 0.5421 | +4.8% |
| 2000 | 0.6006 | +10.8% |
| 2001 | 0.6698 | +11.5% |
| 2002 | 0.7331 | +9.5% |
| 2003 | 0.7682 | +4.8% |
| 2004 | 0.8134 | +5.9% |
| 2005 | 0.8472 | +4.2% |
| 2006 | 0.8815 | +4.0% |
| 2007 | 0.9849 | +11.7% |
| 2008 | 1.09 | +10.6% |
| 2009 | 1.06 | -3.1% |
| 2010 | 0.9884 | -6.4% |
| 2011 | 0.9147 | -7.5% |
| 2012 | 0.8369 | -8.5% |
| 2013 | 0.8201 | -2.0% |
| 2014 | 0.7961 | -2.9% |
| 2015 | 0.7802 | -2.0% |
| 2016 | 0.809 | +3.7% |
| 2017 | 0.846 | +4.6% |
| 2018 | 0.8301 | -1.9% |
| 2019 | 0.8307 | +0.1% |
| 2020 | 0.8361 | +0.6% |
France compared with similar countries
- France's 0.8361 is above the median for high income countries, which is 0.3338, 2.5× the median. (50 countries reporting)
- France's 0.8361 is above the median for Europe & Central Asia, which is 0.1715, 4.9× the median. (48 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 0.736 | 0.7332 | 0.7389 | 2 |
| 1990s | 0.6043 | 0.4865 | 0.7201 | 10 |
| 2000s | 0.8444 | 0.6006 | 1.09 | 10 |
| 2010s | 0.8452 | 0.7802 | 0.9884 | 10 |
| 2020s | 0.8361 | 0.8361 | 0.8361 | 1 |
Countries ranked near France
More social development data for France
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 788,419 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 166 (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 166 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0.0115 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 France?
- Citizen support for democracy in France was 0.8361 in 2020, according to Claassen (2022) – processed by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest citizen support for democracy recorded in France?
- The highest recorded value was 1.09 in 2008.
- What is the lowest citizen support for democracy recorded in France?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.4865 in 1997.
- How does France rank for citizen support for democracy?
- France ranks 22nd out of 144 countries with data for 2020.
- Is citizen support for democracy rising or falling in France?
- Over the last ten years it is down 15.4%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this France 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 — 33 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.