Citizen support for democracy in Turkey
Turkey: Citizen support for democracy was -0.4914 in 2020. ▼ Falling
Citizen support for democracy in Turkey, 1996–2020
Source: Claassen (2022) – processed by Our World in Data.
Analysis
Turkey recorded -0.4914 for citizen support for democracy in 2020.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 0.4% on the previous year and down 6.2% over ten years.
Over the whole period, citizen support for democracy in Turkey peaked at -0.1014 in 1996 and was at its lowest, -0.6678, in 2009.
That places Turkey 82nd out of 144 countries with data for 2020, putting it in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 25 years of available data.
Citizen support for democracy in Turkey, year by year
| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1996 | -0.1014 | — |
| 1997 | -0.1757 | +73.3% |
| 1998 | -0.2441 | +38.9% |
| 1999 | -0.3177 | +30.2% |
| 2000 | -0.3819 | +20.2% |
| 2001 | -0.4529 | +18.6% |
| 2002 | -0.4496 | -0.7% |
| 2003 | -0.4345 | -3.4% |
| 2004 | -0.4207 | -3.2% |
| 2005 | -0.408 | -3.0% |
| 2006 | -0.4836 | +18.5% |
| 2007 | -0.5624 | +16.3% |
| 2008 | -0.6117 | +8.8% |
| 2009 | -0.6678 | +9.2% |
| 2010 | -0.4626 | -30.7% |
| 2011 | -0.4083 | -11.7% |
| 2012 | -0.3404 | -16.6% |
| 2013 | -0.3895 | +14.4% |
| 2014 | -0.4398 | +12.9% |
| 2015 | -0.5021 | +14.2% |
| 2016 | -0.4338 | -13.6% |
| 2017 | -0.3687 | -15.0% |
| 2018 | -0.4877 | +32.3% |
| 2019 | -0.4934 | +1.2% |
| 2020 | -0.4914 | -0.4% |
Turkey compared with similar countries
- Turkey's -0.4914 is above the median for upper middle income countries, which is -0.9114, 54% of the median. (44 countries reporting)
- Turkey's -0.4914 is below the median for Europe & Central Asia, which is 0.1715. (48 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | -0.2097 | -0.3177 | -0.1014 | 4 |
| 2000s | -0.4873 | -0.6678 | -0.3819 | 10 |
| 2010s | -0.4326 | -0.5021 | -0.3404 | 10 |
| 2020s | -0.4914 | -0.4914 | -0.4914 | 1 |
Countries ranked near Turkey
More social development data for Turkey
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 2.39 million (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 149,405 (2025)
- Political Rights Rating 5 (2025)
- Electoral democracy 0 (2025)
- Political rights rating fh, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Political rights rating fh, gaps filled 5 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0.0017 units per person (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 149,405 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0.0278 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 Turkey?
- Citizen support for democracy in Turkey was -0.4914 in 2020, according to Claassen (2022) – processed by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest citizen support for democracy recorded in Turkey?
- The highest recorded value was -0.1014 in 1996.
- What is the lowest citizen support for democracy recorded in Turkey?
- The lowest recorded value was -0.6678 in 2009.
- How does Turkey rank for citizen support for democracy?
- Turkey ranks 82nd out of 144 countries with data for 2020.
- Is citizen support for democracy rising or falling in Turkey?
- Over the last ten years it is down 6.2%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Turkey 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 — 25 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.