Citizen support for democracy in Zambia
Zambia: Citizen support for democracy was 0.9472 in 2020. ▲ Rising
Citizen support for democracy in Zambia, 1999–2020
Source: Claassen (2022) – processed by Our World in Data.
Analysis
In 2020, citizen support for democracy in Zambia stood at 0.9472.
That represents a change of up 0.1% on the previous year and up 14.4% over ten years.
Over the whole period, citizen support for democracy in Zambia peaked at 1.07 in 2013 and was at its lowest, 0.5232, in 2003.
That places Zambia 15th out of 144 countries with data for 2020, putting it in the top 10%.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 22 years of available data.
Citizen support for democracy in Zambia, year by year
| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1999 | 0.6382 | — |
| 2000 | 0.6101 | -4.4% |
| 2001 | 0.583 | -4.4% |
| 2002 | 0.5544 | -4.9% |
| 2003 | 0.5232 | -5.6% |
| 2004 | 0.533 | +1.9% |
| 2005 | 0.5495 | +3.1% |
| 2006 | 0.5397 | -1.8% |
| 2007 | 0.5381 | -0.3% |
| 2008 | 0.6347 | +18.0% |
| 2009 | 0.7452 | +17.4% |
| 2010 | 0.8283 | +11.2% |
| 2011 | 0.9146 | +10.4% |
| 2012 | 0.99 | +8.2% |
| 2013 | 1.07 | +8.5% |
| 2014 | 0.8547 | -20.5% |
| 2015 | 0.8842 | +3.4% |
| 2016 | 0.9116 | +3.1% |
| 2017 | 0.9322 | +2.3% |
| 2018 | 0.9406 | +0.9% |
| 2019 | 0.9465 | +0.6% |
| 2020 | 0.9472 | +0.1% |
Zambia compared with similar countries
- Zambia's 0.9472 is above the median for lower middle income countries, which is -0.6191. (35 countries reporting)
- Zambia's 0.9472 is above the median for Sub-Saharan Africa, which is 0.019, 49.9× the median. (34 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 0.6382 | 0.6382 | 0.6382 | 1 |
| 2000s | 0.5811 | 0.5232 | 0.7452 | 10 |
| 2010s | 0.9277 | 0.8283 | 1.07 | 10 |
| 2020s | 0.9472 | 0.9472 | 0.9472 | 1 |
Countries ranked near Zambia
More social development data for Zambia
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 83,225 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 346 (2025)
- Political Rights Rating 4 (2025)
- Electoral democracy 1 (2025)
- Political rights rating fh, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Political rights rating fh, gaps filled 4 (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 346 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0.0038 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 Zambia?
- Citizen support for democracy in Zambia was 0.9472 in 2020, according to Claassen (2022) – processed by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest citizen support for democracy recorded in Zambia?
- The highest recorded value was 1.07 in 2013.
- What is the lowest citizen support for democracy recorded in Zambia?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.5232 in 2003.
- How does Zambia rank for citizen support for democracy?
- Zambia ranks 15th out of 144 countries with data for 2020.
- Is citizen support for democracy rising or falling in Zambia?
- Over the last ten years it is up 14.4%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Zambia 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 — 22 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.