Citizen support for democracy in Tanzania
Tanzania: Citizen support for democracy was 0.2797 in 2020. ◆ Volatile
Citizen support for democracy in Tanzania, 2001–2020
Source: Claassen (2022) – processed by Our World in Data.
Analysis
Tanzania recorded 0.2797 for citizen support for democracy in 2020.
The figure is up 0.2% on the previous year and down 31.3% over ten years.
Over the whole period, citizen support for democracy in Tanzania peaked at 0.6828 in 2001 and was at its lowest, -0.545, in 2005.
That places Tanzania 42nd out of 144 countries with data for 2020, putting it in the middle of the range.
The series is highly variable year to year, so single readings are best treated with caution.
Citizen support for democracy in Tanzania, year by year
| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 0.6828 | — |
| 2002 | 0.2462 | -63.9% |
| 2003 | -0.0319 | -113.0% |
| 2004 | -0.2893 | +806.7% |
| 2005 | -0.545 | +88.4% |
| 2006 | -0.2077 | -61.9% |
| 2007 | 0.1218 | -158.6% |
| 2008 | 0.2673 | +119.4% |
| 2009 | 0.339 | +26.8% |
| 2010 | 0.407 | +20.0% |
| 2011 | 0.4719 | +15.9% |
| 2012 | 0.5421 | +14.9% |
| 2013 | 0.3975 | -26.7% |
| 2014 | 0.2493 | -37.3% |
| 2015 | 0.1844 | -26.0% |
| 2016 | 0.2357 | +27.8% |
| 2017 | 0.2841 | +20.5% |
| 2018 | 0.2788 | -1.9% |
| 2019 | 0.279 | +0.1% |
| 2020 | 0.2797 | +0.2% |
Tanzania compared with similar countries
- Tanzania's 0.2797 is above the median for lower middle income countries, which is -0.6191. (35 countries reporting)
- Tanzania's 0.2797 is above the median for Sub-Saharan Africa, which is 0.019, 14.7× the median. (34 countries reporting)
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where Citizen support for democracy in Tanzania changed far more than this series normally does. A large move can be a real event or a change in how the figure was measured — the source note below says who published it.
| Year | Change | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | -806.7% | -0.0319 | -0.2893 |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 0.0648 | -0.545 | 0.6828 | 9 |
| 2010s | 0.333 | 0.1844 | 0.5421 | 10 |
| 2020s | 0.2797 | 0.2797 | 0.2797 | 1 |
Countries ranked near Tanzania
More social development data for Tanzania
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 171,142 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 1,592 (2025)
- Political Rights Rating 6 (2025)
- Electoral democracy 0 (2025)
- Political rights rating fh, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Political rights rating fh, gaps filled 6 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0 units per person (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 1,592 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0.0024 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 Tanzania?
- Citizen support for democracy in Tanzania was 0.2797 in 2020, according to Claassen (2022) – processed by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest citizen support for democracy recorded in Tanzania?
- The highest recorded value was 0.6828 in 2001.
- What is the lowest citizen support for democracy recorded in Tanzania?
- The lowest recorded value was -0.545 in 2005.
- How does Tanzania rank for citizen support for democracy?
- Tanzania ranks 42nd out of 144 countries with data for 2020.
- Is citizen support for democracy rising or falling in Tanzania?
- Over the last ten years it is down 31.3%. The long-run trend across the full record is volatile.
- Where does this Tanzania 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 — 20 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.