Behind economic inequality, corruption was the most cited threat to democracy according to the recent study Democracy Perception Index 2024. A large majority of people in almost all democracies (67%) say that corruption is a threat to democracy in their country. Scandinavian citizens, however, consider corruption as a minor danger to their democracies.
The Democracy Perception Index (DPI) is the world’s largest annual study on how people perceive democracy, conducted by Latana in collaboration with the Alliance of Democracies. The 2024 edition offers an unprecedented comparison of global attitudes towards democracy during a time of rising geopolitical tensions and violent conflicts. Results are based on nationally representative interviews with over 62,953 respondents from 53 countries conducted between February 20th and April 15th, 2024.
“Around the world people want to live under democracy but these figures are a wake-up call for all democratic governments. Defending democracy means advancing freedom around the world, but it also means listening to voters’ concerns at home. The trend shows we risk losing the Global South to the autocracies. We are witnessing an axis of autocracies forming from China to Russia to Iran. We must act now to make freedom more attractive than dictatorship and unite through an alliance of democracies to push back against the emboldened autocrats,” says Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Chair of the Alliance of Democracies Foundation, former NATO Chief, and Danish Prime Minister.
“War and violent conflict is seen as the world’s biggest challenge, followed by poverty and climate change. It is encouraging to see that people’s belief in the idea of democracy is at an all-time high, but if democratic countries are unable to help solve the world’s challenges, then it will be only a matter of time until support for democracy will suffer,” says dr. Nico Jaspers, CEO at Latana.
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Related: Norway – World’s Best Democracy
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The Democracy Perception Index (DPI)
The Democracy Perception Index (DPI) aims to understand how people around the world perceive the state of democracy in their country today and the major challenges that lie ahead. It is the largest annual study on people’s perception of democracy, spanning 53 countries that represent over 75% of the world’s population.
Despite the 18th consecutive year of decline in global freedom according to Freedom House, the vast majority of people worldwide consistently say that democracy is important to have in their country (85%).
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Related: Scandinavia – the Most Democratic Countries in the World
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Democracy is important
Across the 53 countries surveyed in the Democracy Perception Index (DPI) study, an average of 85% of people say that democracy is important to have in their country, ranging from 94% in the birthplace of democracy, Greece, to 63% in Iran. This is a major opinion in all countries.
When asked how democratic people think their country currently is, only about half the world (58%) says that their country is actually democratic. This is true even in democracies labeled as “free” by Freedom House, where only 60% say that their country is democratic.
Threats to Democracy
This part of the survey provides an overview of what people in democratic countries see as the biggest threats to democracy. The results show that out of all the threats listed in the DPI, economic inequality is viewed as the most significant threat among the 44 democracies surveyed: an average of 68% say that economic inequality threatens democracy in their country. Behind economic inequality comes corruption.
The countries being most concerned about corruption are Greece, South Africa, Ukraine and Nigeria. On the opposite site of the scale are Denmark, Germany, Switzerland and Austria (all 50%). Norway’s score is 55% while 60% of Swedish citizens say that corruption is a threat to democracy in their country.
You can download the complete survey in PDF format here.
Scandinavian Citizens Consider Corruption as a Minor Danger to Their Democracies, compiled by Tor Kjolberg