Citizen support for democracy in Mexico
Mexico: Citizen support for democracy was -0.9881 in 2020. ▼ Falling
Citizen support for democracy in Mexico, 1995–2020
Source: Claassen (2022) – processed by Our World in Data.
Analysis
Mexico recorded -0.9881 for citizen support for democracy in 2020.
The figure is down 0.7% on the previous year and down 45.2% over ten years.
Over the whole period, citizen support for democracy in Mexico peaked at -0.3128 in 2002 and was at its lowest, -1.08, in 2017.
That places Mexico 115th out of 144 countries with data for 2020, putting it in the bottom quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 26 years of available data.
Citizen support for democracy in Mexico, year by year
| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1995 | -0.4598 | — |
| 1996 | -0.4353 | -5.3% |
| 1997 | -0.4698 | +7.9% |
| 1998 | -0.5321 | +13.3% |
| 1999 | -0.6167 | +15.9% |
| 2000 | -0.7069 | +14.6% |
| 2001 | -0.5474 | -22.6% |
| 2002 | -0.3128 | -42.9% |
| 2003 | -0.3429 | +9.6% |
| 2004 | -0.3391 | -1.1% |
| 2005 | -0.4712 | +38.9% |
| 2006 | -0.5084 | +7.9% |
| 2007 | -0.6333 | +24.6% |
| 2008 | -0.5976 | -5.6% |
| 2009 | -0.7262 | +21.5% |
| 2010 | -0.6804 | -6.3% |
| 2011 | -0.7999 | +17.6% |
| 2012 | -0.6739 | -15.8% |
| 2013 | -0.7419 | +10.1% |
| 2014 | -0.9269 | +24.9% |
| 2015 | -0.9507 | +2.6% |
| 2016 | -0.8813 | -7.3% |
| 2017 | -1.08 | +22.5% |
| 2018 | -1.02 | -5.4% |
| 2019 | -0.9814 | -3.9% |
| 2020 | -0.9881 | +0.7% |
Mexico compared with similar countries
- Mexico's -0.9881 is below the median for upper middle income countries, which is -0.9114, 1.1× the median. (44 countries reporting)
- Mexico's -0.9881 is below the median for Latin America & Caribbean, which is -0.7907, 1.2× the median. (24 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | -0.5027 | -0.6167 | -0.4353 | 5 |
| 2000s | -0.5186 | -0.7262 | -0.3128 | 10 |
| 2010s | -0.8738 | -1.08 | -0.6739 | 10 |
| 2020s | -0.9881 | -0.9881 | -0.9881 | 1 |
Countries ranked near Mexico
More social development data for Mexico
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 152,002 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 41,307 (2025)
- Political Rights Rating 3 (2025)
- Electoral democracy 1 (2025)
- Political rights rating fh, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Political rights rating fh, gaps filled 3 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0.0003 units per person (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 41,307 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0.0012 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 Mexico?
- Citizen support for democracy in Mexico was -0.9881 in 2020, according to Claassen (2022) – processed by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest citizen support for democracy recorded in Mexico?
- The highest recorded value was -0.3128 in 2002.
- What is the lowest citizen support for democracy recorded in Mexico?
- The lowest recorded value was -1.08 in 2017.
- How does Mexico rank for citizen support for democracy?
- Mexico ranks 115th out of 144 countries with data for 2020.
- Is citizen support for democracy rising or falling in Mexico?
- Over the last ten years it is down 45.2%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Mexico 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.