Citizen support for democracy in Russia
Russia: Citizen support for democracy was -0.944 in 2020. ▲ Rising
Citizen support for democracy in Russia, 1994–2020
Source: Claassen (2022) – processed by Our World in Data.
Analysis
Russia recorded -0.944 for citizen support for democracy in 2020.
Compared with earlier readings it is down 0.3% on the previous year and up 31.9% over ten years.
Over the whole period, citizen support for democracy in Russia peaked at -0.9383 in 2017 and was at its lowest, -1.83, in 1994.
That places Russia 111th out of 144 countries with data for 2020, putting it in the bottom quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 27 years of available data.
Citizen support for democracy in Russia, year by year
| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1994 | -1.83 | — |
| 1995 | -1.65 | -9.6% |
| 1996 | -1.63 | -1.1% |
| 1997 | -1.7 | +4.3% |
| 1998 | -1.77 | +4.0% |
| 1999 | -1.8 | +1.7% |
| 2000 | -1.73 | -4.3% |
| 2001 | -1.7 | -1.6% |
| 2002 | -1.7 | -0.1% |
| 2003 | -1.52 | -10.8% |
| 2004 | -1.33 | -12.0% |
| 2005 | -1.37 | +2.5% |
| 2006 | -1.35 | -1.0% |
| 2007 | -1.47 | +8.5% |
| 2008 | -1.42 | -3.5% |
| 2009 | -1.43 | +1.0% |
| 2010 | -1.39 | -3.2% |
| 2011 | -1.35 | -2.9% |
| 2012 | -1.25 | -7.1% |
| 2013 | -1.19 | -5.1% |
| 2014 | -1.12 | -5.3% |
| 2015 | -1.06 | -5.9% |
| 2016 | -0.9988 | -5.4% |
| 2017 | -0.9383 | -6.1% |
| 2018 | -0.9403 | +0.2% |
| 2019 | -0.9412 | +0.1% |
| 2020 | -0.944 | +0.3% |
Russia compared with similar countries
- Russia's -0.944 is below the median for high income countries, which is 0.3338. (50 countries reporting)
- Russia's -0.944 is below the median for Europe & Central Asia, which is 0.1715. (48 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | -1.73 | -1.83 | -1.63 | 6 |
| 2000s | -1.5 | -1.73 | -1.33 | 10 |
| 2010s | -1.12 | -1.39 | -0.9383 | 10 |
| 2020s | -0.944 | -0.944 | -0.944 | 1 |
Countries ranked near Russia
More social development data for Russia
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 11,811 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 99,360 (2025)
- Political Rights Rating 7 (2025)
- Electoral democracy 0 (2025)
- Political rights rating fh, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Political rights rating fh, gaps filled 7 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0.0007 units per person (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 99,360 (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 0 units per US$ of GDP (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is citizen support for democracy in Russia?
- Citizen support for democracy in Russia was -0.944 in 2020, according to Claassen (2022) – processed by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest citizen support for democracy recorded in Russia?
- The highest recorded value was -0.9383 in 2017.
- What is the lowest citizen support for democracy recorded in Russia?
- The lowest recorded value was -1.83 in 1994.
- How does Russia rank for citizen support for democracy?
- Russia ranks 111th out of 144 countries with data for 2020.
- Is citizen support for democracy rising or falling in Russia?
- Over the last ten years it is up 31.9%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Russia 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 — 27 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.