Citizen support for democracy in Romania
Romania: Citizen support for democracy was -0.9167 in 2020. ▼ Falling
Citizen support for democracy in Romania, 1990–2020
Source: Claassen (2022) – processed by Our World in Data.
Analysis
Romania recorded -0.9167 for citizen support for democracy in 2020.
The figure is up 0.2% on the previous year and down 14.2% over ten years.
Over the whole period, citizen support for democracy in Romania peaked at -0.1863 in 1990 and was at its lowest, -0.9283, in 2018.
Romania ranks 107th of 144 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 31 years of available data.
Citizen support for democracy in Romania, year by year
| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1990 | -0.1863 | — |
| 1991 | -0.2591 | +39.0% |
| 1992 | -0.3365 | +29.9% |
| 1993 | -0.4341 | +29.0% |
| 1994 | -0.3765 | -13.3% |
| 1995 | -0.3284 | -12.8% |
| 1996 | -0.3969 | +20.9% |
| 1997 | -0.453 | +14.1% |
| 1998 | -0.5127 | +13.2% |
| 1999 | -0.7791 | +52.0% |
| 2000 | -0.7461 | -4.2% |
| 2001 | -0.7167 | -3.9% |
| 2002 | -0.6578 | -8.2% |
| 2003 | -0.5953 | -9.5% |
| 2004 | -0.5316 | -10.7% |
| 2005 | -0.5719 | +7.6% |
| 2006 | -0.6546 | +14.4% |
| 2007 | -0.7419 | +13.3% |
| 2008 | -0.819 | +10.4% |
| 2009 | -0.8086 | -1.3% |
| 2010 | -0.8026 | -0.7% |
| 2011 | -0.8037 | +0.1% |
| 2012 | -0.7838 | -2.5% |
| 2013 | -0.8046 | +2.6% |
| 2014 | -0.8243 | +2.5% |
| 2015 | -0.8548 | +3.7% |
| 2016 | -0.8813 | +3.1% |
| 2017 | -0.9011 | +2.2% |
| 2018 | -0.9283 | +3.0% |
| 2019 | -0.919 | -1.0% |
| 2020 | -0.9167 | -0.2% |
Romania compared with similar countries
- Romania's -0.9167 is below the median for high income countries, which is 0.3338. (50 countries reporting)
- Romania's -0.9167 is below the median for Europe & Central Asia, which is 0.1715. (48 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | -0.4063 | -0.7791 | -0.1863 | 10 |
| 2000s | -0.6844 | -0.819 | -0.5316 | 10 |
| 2010s | -0.8504 | -0.9283 | -0.7838 | 10 |
| 2020s | -0.9167 | -0.9167 | -0.9167 | 1 |
Countries ranked near Romania
More social development data for Romania
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 206,671 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 3,130 (2025)
- Political Rights Rating 2 (2025)
- Electoral democracy 1 (2025)
- Political rights rating fh, annual growth rate 0 % 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 0.0002 units per person (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 3,130 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0.0109 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 Romania?
- Citizen support for democracy in Romania was -0.9167 in 2020, according to Claassen (2022) – processed by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest citizen support for democracy recorded in Romania?
- The highest recorded value was -0.1863 in 1990.
- What is the lowest citizen support for democracy recorded in Romania?
- The lowest recorded value was -0.9283 in 2018.
- How does Romania rank for citizen support for democracy?
- Romania ranks 107th out of 144 countries with data for 2020.
- Is citizen support for democracy rising or falling in Romania?
- Over the last ten years it is down 14.2%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Romania 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 — 31 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.