{"id":269172,"date":"2025-06-30T11:54:37","date_gmt":"2025-06-30T15:54:37","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2026-03-26T08:17:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T12:17:20","slug":"dissatisfaction-with-democracy-remains-widespread-in-many-nations","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2025\/06\/30\/dissatisfaction-with-democracy-remains-widespread-in-many-nations\/","title":{"rendered":"Dissatisfaction with democracy remains widespread in many nations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"A
A voter leaves the polling booth after casting her ballot in state assembly elections in Mumbai, India, on Nov. 20, 2024. (Photo by Indranil Mukherjee\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Public dissatisfaction with democracy continues to outweigh satisfaction across 12 high-income countries that Pew Research Center has surveyed consistently since 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Across that set of countries \u2013 Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States \u2013 a median of 64% of adults say they are dissatisfied <\/strong>with the way their democracy is working, while a median of 35% are satisfied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the eight years we\u2019ve been asking this question, people\u2019s overall satisfaction with the functioning of democracy has dropped. In 2017, a median of 49% of adults across these countries were satisfied with how their democracy was working, while an identical 49% were not. Satisfaction returned to this level during the COVID-19 pandemic<\/a> but has declined further in the years since.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What is a median?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

In this analysis, median scores are used to help readers see overall patterns in the data. The median percentage is the middle number in a list of all percentages sorted from highest to lowest.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

This doesn\u2019t necessarily mean people are turning away from democratic values. Our research has shown that people around the globe think representative democracy is a good system of government<\/a>. At the same time, many are frustrated with political elites or feel their views are not truly represented in government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related: <\/em><\/strong>What Can Improve Democracy?<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How we did this<\/summary>\n

This Pew Research Center analysis focuses on views of democracy in 23 countries across the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, North America and sub-Saharan Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This analysis draws on nationally representative surveys of 26,248 adults conducted from Jan. 8 to April 26, 2025. All surveys were conducted over the phone with adults in Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, South Korea, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Surveys were conducted face-to-face in Argentina, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Israel, Kenya, Mexico and South Africa. In Australia, we used a mixed-mode probability-based online panel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the United States, we surveyed 3,605 U.S. adults from March 24 to March 30, 2025. Everyone who took part in this survey is a member of the Center\u2019s American Trends Panel (ATP), a group of people recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses who have agreed to take surveys regularly. This kind of recruitment gives nearly all U.S. adults a chance of selection. Interviews were conducted either online or by telephone with a live interviewer. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories. Read more about the ATP\u2019s methodology<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We conducted simultaneous telephone and face-to-face surveys in Hungary and Poland in 2024. Data in our 2024 reports was from the face-to-face survey. The 2024 data in this report comes from the telephone survey for direct comparison to our 2025 telephone data. For this reason, 2024 data for Hungary and Poland may not match earlier reports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are the questions used for this analysis<\/a>, along with responses, and the survey methodology<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n

Satisfaction with democracy varies by country<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"A<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In addition to the 12 countries where the Center has consistently tracked satisfaction with democracy over time, we asked the same question in 11 other nations this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Across all 23 countries surveyed, a median of 58% of adults are dissatisfied<\/strong> with how their democracy is working, while 42% are satisfied.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Satisfaction with democracy varies widely in Europe, from 75% in Sweden to just 19% in Greece. There is a similarly broad range of views in the five Asia-Pacific nations polled (Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan and South Korea).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Israel, as well as the African and Latin American nations surveyed, assessments of how democracy is working tend to be more negative than positive. For example, 63% of adults in South Africa are dissatisfied with their democracy, while 36% are satisfied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ties to views of current economic conditions<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Many things can influence how satisfied people feel with the way their democracy is working, but economic perceptions are one important factor. Countries where large shares of the public say the economy is in good shape also tend to have large shares who are satisfied with their democracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

India, Indonesia, Mexico, the Netherlands and Sweden are examples of countries where people are relatively happy with both their democracy and their economy. In contrast, adults in France, Greece, Italy, Japan and South Korea tend to be down on the state of both democracy and the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Changes since last year<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Since 2024, satisfaction with democracy has decreased<\/em> in five countries (Israel, Japan, Kenya, Poland and South Korea) and increased<\/em> in five others (Canada, Germany, South Africa, the UK and the U.S.).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Countries in this analysis<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The countries included in this analysis consistently receive moderately to strongly positive ratings from research organizations that rate the health of democracy, such as the Economist Intelligence Unit<\/a>, Freedom House<\/a> and the Varieties of Democracy Project<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Four of the countries where satisfaction grew held national elections between our 2024 and 2025 surveys. In each one, views changed among partisan groups in ways that reflect election results: In general, supporters of a party that won an election, or sometimes a party that exceeded expectations in an election, became happier with the state of democracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n