Citizen support for democracy in Italy
Italy: Citizen support for democracy was 0.7076 in 2020. ▼ Falling
Citizen support for democracy in Italy, 1988–2020
Source: Claassen (2022) – processed by Our World in Data.
Analysis
In 2020, citizen support for democracy in Italy stood at 0.7076.
That represents a change of down 1.0% on the previous year and down 8.5% over ten years.
Over the whole period, citizen support for democracy in Italy peaked at 1.18 in 1999 and was at its lowest, 0.6108, in 2017.
Italy ranks 26th of 144 countries on this measure, in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 33 years of available data.
Citizen support for democracy in Italy, year by year
| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1988 | 0.8034 | — |
| 1989 | 0.8175 | +1.8% |
| 1990 | 0.8285 | +1.3% |
| 1991 | 0.8278 | -0.1% |
| 1992 | 0.8443 | +2.0% |
| 1993 | 0.8877 | +5.1% |
| 1994 | 0.9223 | +3.9% |
| 1995 | 0.9528 | +3.3% |
| 1996 | 0.9946 | +4.4% |
| 1997 | 1.03 | +4.0% |
| 1998 | 1.11 | +6.9% |
| 1999 | 1.18 | +6.3% |
| 2000 | 1.14 | -3.0% |
| 2001 | 1.1 | -3.1% |
| 2002 | 1.07 | -2.8% |
| 2003 | 1.06 | -1.7% |
| 2004 | 1.03 | -2.4% |
| 2005 | 1 | -2.5% |
| 2006 | 0.845 | -15.9% |
| 2007 | 0.8364 | -1.0% |
| 2008 | 0.8048 | -3.8% |
| 2009 | 0.7891 | -1.9% |
| 2010 | 0.773 | -2.0% |
| 2011 | 0.7517 | -2.8% |
| 2012 | 0.7269 | -3.3% |
| 2013 | 0.7028 | -3.3% |
| 2014 | 0.6816 | -3.0% |
| 2015 | 0.6488 | -4.8% |
| 2016 | 0.6247 | -3.7% |
| 2017 | 0.6108 | -2.2% |
| 2018 | 0.706 | +15.6% |
| 2019 | 0.7149 | +1.3% |
| 2020 | 0.7076 | -1.0% |
Italy compared with similar countries
- Italy's 0.7076 is above the median for high income countries, which is 0.3338, 2.1× the median. (50 countries reporting)
- Italy's 0.7076 is above the median for Europe & Central Asia, which is 0.1715, 4.1× the median. (48 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 0.8105 | 0.8034 | 0.8175 | 2 |
| 1990s | 0.9574 | 0.8278 | 1.18 | 10 |
| 2000s | 0.9686 | 0.7891 | 1.14 | 10 |
| 2010s | 0.6941 | 0.6108 | 0.773 | 10 |
| 2020s | 0.7076 | 0.7076 | 0.7076 | 1 |
Countries ranked near Italy
More social development data for Italy
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 192,914 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 266 (2025)
- Political Rights Rating 2 (2025)
- Electoral democracy 1 (2025)
- Political rights rating fh, annual growth rate 100 % 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 266 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0.0033 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 Italy?
- Citizen support for democracy in Italy was 0.7076 in 2020, according to Claassen (2022) – processed by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest citizen support for democracy recorded in Italy?
- The highest recorded value was 1.18 in 1999.
- What is the lowest citizen support for democracy recorded in Italy?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.6108 in 2017.
- How does Italy rank for citizen support for democracy?
- Italy ranks 26th out of 144 countries with data for 2020.
- Is citizen support for democracy rising or falling in Italy?
- Over the last ten years it is down 8.5%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Italy 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.