Citizen support for democracy in Vietnam
Vietnam: Citizen support for democracy was -1.85 in 2020. ▼ Falling
Citizen support for democracy in Vietnam, 2001–2020
Source: Claassen (2022) – processed by Our World in Data.
Analysis
Vietnam recorded -1.85 for citizen support for democracy in 2020. That is the lowest value across all 20 years on record.
The figure is down 1.7% on the previous year and down 46.6% over ten years.
Over the whole period, citizen support for democracy in Vietnam peaked at -0.342 in 2005 and was at its lowest, -1.85, in 2020.
Vietnam ranks 144th of 144 countries on this measure, in the bottom quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 20 years of available data.
Citizen support for democracy in Vietnam, year by year
| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | -0.6071 | — |
| 2002 | -0.5379 | -11.4% |
| 2003 | -0.4665 | -13.3% |
| 2004 | -0.4005 | -14.2% |
| 2005 | -0.342 | -14.6% |
| 2006 | -0.368 | +7.6% |
| 2007 | -0.5944 | +61.5% |
| 2008 | -0.8195 | +37.9% |
| 2009 | -1.04 | +27.0% |
| 2010 | -1.26 | +21.5% |
| 2011 | -1.34 | +6.3% |
| 2012 | -1.43 | +6.5% |
| 2013 | -1.51 | +5.4% |
| 2014 | -1.58 | +4.9% |
| 2015 | -1.67 | +5.6% |
| 2016 | -1.72 | +3.2% |
| 2017 | -1.77 | +2.5% |
| 2018 | -1.8 | +1.7% |
| 2019 | -1.82 | +1.4% |
| 2020 | -1.85 | +1.7% |
Vietnam compared with similar countries
- Vietnam's -1.85 is below the median for upper middle income countries, which is -0.9114, 2.0× the median. (44 countries reporting)
- Vietnam's -1.85 is below the median for East Asia & Pacific, which is -0.4405, 4.2× the median. (14 countries reporting)
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where Citizen support for democracy in Vietnam 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | -61.5% | -0.368 | -0.5944 |
| 2008 | -37.9% | -0.5944 | -0.8195 |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | -0.5752 | -1.04 | -0.342 | 9 |
| 2010s | -1.59 | -1.82 | -1.26 | 10 |
| 2020s | -1.85 | -1.85 | -1.85 | 1 |
Countries ranked near Vietnam
More social development data for Vietnam
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 13 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 20,636 (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 0.0002 units per person (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 20,636 (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 0 units per US$ of GDP (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is citizen support for democracy in Vietnam?
- Citizen support for democracy in Vietnam was -1.85 in 2020, according to Claassen (2022) – processed by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest citizen support for democracy recorded in Vietnam?
- The highest recorded value was -0.342 in 2005.
- What is the lowest citizen support for democracy recorded in Vietnam?
- The lowest recorded value was -1.85 in 2020.
- How does Vietnam rank for citizen support for democracy?
- Vietnam ranks 144th out of 144 countries with data for 2020.
- Is citizen support for democracy rising or falling in Vietnam?
- Over the last ten years it is down 46.6%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Vietnam 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.