Citizen support for democracy in Malaysia
Malaysia: Citizen support for democracy was -0.7681 in 2020. ▼ Falling
Citizen support for democracy in Malaysia, 2003–2020
Source: Claassen (2022) – processed by Our World in Data.
Analysis
Malaysia recorded -0.7681 for citizen support for democracy in 2020. That is the lowest value across all 18 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is down 0.4% on the previous year and down 226.4% over ten years.
Over the whole period, citizen support for democracy in Malaysia peaked at -0.1034 in 2003 and was at its lowest, -0.7681, in 2020.
That places Malaysia 97th out of 144 countries with data for 2020, putting it in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 18 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | -0.3485 | -0.5376 | -0.1034 | 7 |
| 2010s | -0.4646 | -0.7662 | -0.1394 | 10 |
| 2020s | -0.7681 | -0.7681 | -0.7681 | 1 |
Countries ranked near Malaysia
More social development data for Malaysia
- Political Rights Rating 4 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of asy 150,164 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of ori 2,477 (2025)
- Electoral democracy 1 (2025)
- Key features of democracy 0.504 (2025)
- Freedom of Expression Index 0.586 (2025)
- Freedom of Association Index 0.791 (2025)
- Electoral Democracy Index 0.504 (2025)
- Participatory Democracy Index 0.303 (2025)
- Liberal Democracy Index 0.355 (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is citizen support for democracy in Malaysia?
- Citizen support for democracy in Malaysia was -0.7681 in 2020, according to Claassen (2022) – processed by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest citizen support for democracy recorded in Malaysia?
- The highest recorded value was -0.1034 in 2003.
- What is the lowest citizen support for democracy recorded in Malaysia?
- The lowest recorded value was -0.7681 in 2020.
- How does Malaysia rank for citizen support for democracy?
- Malaysia ranks 97th out of 144 countries with data for 2020.
- Is citizen support for democracy rising or falling in Malaysia?
- Over the last ten years it is down 226.4%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Malaysia 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 — 18 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.