Majorities in many countries are dissatisfied with their democracy % working who say they are with the way democracy is working in their country
Across 27 nations surveyed by Pew Research Center in 2018, people were more dissatisfied than satisfied with the way democracy is working in their country. This held especially true in a dozen countries where negative views of democracy outpaced positive by more than 10 percentage points.
The 12 countries most dissatisfied with their democracy included four – Mexico, Greece, Brazil and Spain – where eight-in-ten or more were dissatisfied with the state of democracy, and another five where six-in-ten or more expressed dissatisfaction: Tunisia, Italy, South Africa, Argentina and Nigeria. The United States was close behind, with 58% expressing unhappiness with the way democracy is functioning.
People’s views of their country’s economy were strongly linked to their views of democracy. In nine of the 12 countries most dissatisfied with democracy, at least two-thirds of those who said their country’s current economic situation is bad also were dissatisfied with democracy. (In the remaining three – Greece, Tunisia and Brazil – so few people said the economy is good that the relationship between views of the economy and of democracy could not be analyzed. In these countries, 90% or more of the public was unhappy with the economy.)
Majorities in many countries are  | dissatisfied with their democracy  | % working who say they are with the way democracy is  | working in their country  | Not satisfied Satisfied  | Mexico 85%  | 14%  | Greece  | 84  | 16  | Brazil  | 83  | 16  | Spain  | 81  | 20  | Tunisia  | 70  | 27  | Italy  | 70  | 29  | South Africa  | 64  | 35  | Argentina  | 63  | 35  | Nigeria  | 60  | 39  | U.S  | 58  | 40  | 56  | 40  | Japan  | UK  | 55  | 42  | Hungary  | 53  | 45  | France  | 51  | 48  | Russia  | 49  | 44  | Kenya  | 47  | 52  | Poland  | 44  | 51  | Germany  | 43  | 56  | 43  | Israel  | 56  | Australia  | 40  | 59  | Canada  | 39  | 61  | South Korea  | 35  | 64  | Netherlands  | 34  | 64  | India  | 33  | 54  | Ind onesia  | 33  | 65  | Philippines  | 31  | 69  | Sweden  | 30  | 69  | 27 COUNTRY  | 51  | 45  | MEDIAN  | Note: Don't know 2018 responses not shown.  | Source: Spring 2018 responses Global Attitudes Survey.  | PEW RESEARCH CENTER 