Citizen support for democracy in Netherlands
Netherlands: Citizen support for democracy was 0.9533 in 2020. ▼ Falling
Citizen support for democracy in Netherlands, 1988–2020
Source: Claassen (2022) – processed by Our World in Data.
Analysis
In 2020, citizen support for democracy in Netherlands stood at 0.9533.
That represents a change of up 6.2% over ten years.
Over the whole period, citizen support for democracy in Netherlands peaked at 1.83 in 1999 and was at its lowest, 0.8252, in 2012.
Netherlands ranks 14th 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.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 1.51 | 1.51 | 1.52 | 2 |
| 1990s | 1.65 | 1.53 | 1.83 | 10 |
| 2000s | 1.23 | 0.9357 | 1.71 | 10 |
| 2010s | 0.9035 | 0.8252 | 0.9609 | 10 |
| 2020s | 0.9533 | 0.9533 | 0.9533 | 1 |
Countries ranked near Netherlands
More social development data for Netherlands
- Political Rights Rating 1 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of asy 283,935 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of ori 159 (2025)
- Electoral democracy 1 (2025)
- Key features of democracy 0.832 (2025)
- Freedom of Expression Index 0.91 (2025)
- Freedom of Association Index 0.868 (2025)
- Electoral Democracy Index 0.832 (2025)
- Participatory Democracy Index 0.553 (2025)
- Liberal Democracy Index 0.774 (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is citizen support for democracy in Netherlands?
- Citizen support for democracy in Netherlands was 0.9533 in 2020, according to Claassen (2022) – processed by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest citizen support for democracy recorded in Netherlands?
- The highest recorded value was 1.83 in 1999.
- What is the lowest citizen support for democracy recorded in Netherlands?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.8252 in 2012.
- How does Netherlands rank for citizen support for democracy?
- Netherlands ranks 14th out of 144 countries with data for 2020.
- Is citizen support for democracy rising or falling in Netherlands?
- Over the last ten years it is up 6.2%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Netherlands 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.