Citizen support for democracy in Latvia
Latvia: Citizen support for democracy was -0.4722 in 2020. ▼ Falling
Citizen support for democracy in Latvia, 1995–2020
Source: Claassen (2022) – processed by Our World in Data.
Analysis
Latvia recorded -0.4722 for citizen support for democracy in 2020.
That represents a change of down 0.5% on the previous year and up 5.1% over ten years.
Over the whole period, citizen support for democracy in Latvia peaked at -0.1695 in 2004 and was at its lowest, -0.5047, in 2011.
Latvia ranks 79th of 144 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 26 years of available data.
Citizen support for democracy in Latvia, year by year
| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1995 | -0.4553 | — |
| 1996 | -0.3915 | -14.0% |
| 1997 | -0.3288 | -16.0% |
| 1998 | -0.2701 | -17.8% |
| 1999 | -0.2454 | -9.2% |
| 2000 | -0.2506 | +2.1% |
| 2001 | -0.2706 | +8.0% |
| 2002 | -0.2377 | -12.2% |
| 2003 | -0.1991 | -16.2% |
| 2004 | -0.1695 | -14.9% |
| 2005 | -0.2536 | +49.6% |
| 2006 | -0.3309 | +30.5% |
| 2007 | -0.4159 | +25.7% |
| 2008 | -0.5028 | +20.9% |
| 2009 | -0.501 | -0.4% |
| 2010 | -0.4979 | -0.6% |
| 2011 | -0.5047 | +1.4% |
| 2012 | -0.4945 | -2.0% |
| 2013 | -0.4886 | -1.2% |
| 2014 | -0.4842 | -0.9% |
| 2015 | -0.4777 | -1.3% |
| 2016 | -0.4736 | -0.9% |
| 2017 | -0.4782 | +1.0% |
| 2018 | -0.4754 | -0.6% |
| 2019 | -0.47 | -1.1% |
| 2020 | -0.4722 | +0.5% |
Latvia compared with similar countries
- Latvia's -0.4722 is below the median for high income countries, which is 0.3338. (50 countries reporting)
- Latvia's -0.4722 is below the median for Europe & Central Asia, which is 0.1715. (48 countries reporting)
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where Citizen support for democracy in Latvia changed far more than this series normally does. A large move can be a real event or a change in how the figure was measured — the source note below says who published it.
| Year | Change | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | -49.6% | -0.1695 | -0.2536 |
| 2006 | -30.5% | -0.2536 | -0.3309 |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | -0.3382 | -0.4553 | -0.2454 | 5 |
| 2000s | -0.3132 | -0.5028 | -0.1695 | 10 |
| 2010s | -0.4845 | -0.5047 | -0.47 | 10 |
| 2020s | -0.4722 | -0.4722 | -0.4722 | 1 |
Countries ranked near Latvia
More social development data for Latvia
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 32,454 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 189 (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 0.0001 units per person (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 189 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0.0176 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 Latvia?
- Citizen support for democracy in Latvia was -0.4722 in 2020, according to Claassen (2022) – processed by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest citizen support for democracy recorded in Latvia?
- The highest recorded value was -0.1695 in 2004.
- What is the lowest citizen support for democracy recorded in Latvia?
- The lowest recorded value was -0.5047 in 2011.
- How does Latvia rank for citizen support for democracy?
- Latvia ranks 79th out of 144 countries with data for 2020.
- Is citizen support for democracy rising or falling in Latvia?
- Over the last ten years it is up 5.1%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Latvia 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 — 26 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.