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.
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
- Political Rights Rating 7 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of asy 11,811 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of ori 99,360 (2025)
- Electoral democracy 0 (2025)
- Key features of democracy 0.17 (2025)
- Freedom of Expression Index 0.08 (2025)
- Freedom of Association Index 0.115 (2025)
- Electoral Democracy Index 0.17 (2025)
- Participatory Democracy Index 0.124 (2025)
- Liberal Democracy Index 0.056 (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.