Citizen support for democracy in Germany
Germany: Citizen support for democracy was 1.86 in 2020. ▼ Falling
Citizen support for democracy in Germany, 1988–2020
Source: Claassen (2022) – processed by Our World in Data.
Analysis
Germany recorded 1.86 for citizen support for democracy in 2020.
Compared with earlier readings it is down 0.5% on the previous year and up 37.2% over ten years.
Over the whole period, citizen support for democracy in Germany peaked at 1.95 in 1988 and was at its lowest, 1.27, in 2008.
Germany ranks 9th of 144 countries on this measure, in the top 10%.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 33 years of available data.
Citizen support for democracy in Germany, year by year
| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1988 | 1.95 | — |
| 1989 | 1.93 | -0.7% |
| 1990 | 1.91 | -1.3% |
| 1991 | 1.89 | -1.0% |
| 1992 | 1.86 | -1.3% |
| 1993 | 1.84 | -1.1% |
| 1994 | 1.82 | -1.1% |
| 1995 | 1.81 | -1.1% |
| 1996 | 1.79 | -0.9% |
| 1997 | 1.77 | -1.2% |
| 1998 | 1.77 | +0.4% |
| 1999 | 1.78 | +0.1% |
| 2000 | 1.75 | -1.8% |
| 2001 | 1.66 | -4.7% |
| 2002 | 1.57 | -5.3% |
| 2003 | 1.54 | -2.5% |
| 2004 | 1.49 | -2.7% |
| 2005 | 1.45 | -3.1% |
| 2006 | 1.41 | -2.6% |
| 2007 | 1.35 | -4.5% |
| 2008 | 1.27 | -5.5% |
| 2009 | 1.31 | +3.0% |
| 2010 | 1.36 | +3.6% |
| 2011 | 1.4 | +3.0% |
| 2012 | 1.44 | +2.7% |
| 2013 | 1.49 | +4.0% |
| 2014 | 1.57 | +5.3% |
| 2015 | 1.65 | +5.1% |
| 2016 | 1.77 | +7.3% |
| 2017 | 1.9 | +7.0% |
| 2018 | 1.86 | -1.7% |
| 2019 | 1.87 | +0.5% |
| 2020 | 1.86 | -0.5% |
Germany compared with similar countries
- Germany's 1.86 is above the median for high income countries, which is 0.3338, 5.6× the median. (50 countries reporting)
- Germany's 1.86 is above the median for Europe & Central Asia, which is 0.1715, 10.9× the median. (48 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 1.94 | 1.93 | 1.95 | 2 |
| 1990s | 1.82 | 1.77 | 1.91 | 10 |
| 2000s | 1.48 | 1.27 | 1.75 | 10 |
| 2010s | 1.63 | 1.36 | 1.9 | 10 |
| 2020s | 1.86 | 1.86 | 1.86 | 1 |
Countries ranked near Germany
More social development data for Germany
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 2.66 million (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 327 (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 327 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0.0318 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 Germany?
- Citizen support for democracy in Germany was 1.86 in 2020, according to Claassen (2022) – processed by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest citizen support for democracy recorded in Germany?
- The highest recorded value was 1.95 in 1988.
- What is the lowest citizen support for democracy recorded in Germany?
- The lowest recorded value was 1.27 in 2008.
- How does Germany rank for citizen support for democracy?
- Germany ranks 9th out of 144 countries with data for 2020.
- Is citizen support for democracy rising or falling in Germany?
- Over the last ten years it is up 37.2%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Germany 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.