Fewer than half of citizens consider their country a democracy and are satisfied with the way democracy is working.
Key findings
- In the most recent round of Afrobarometer surveys, conducted in 38 countries in 2024/2025, fewer than half of Africans consider their country a democracy (47%) and say they are satisfied with the way democracy works in their country (38%).
- o Both positive assessments increase with citizens' greater economic well-being. ▪ Across 28 countries surveyed consistently over the past decade, the share who perceive a full supply of democracy (i.e. who think their country is a democracy and are satisfied with its functioning) has risen by 3 percentage points since 2021/2023, reclaiming half of a 6-point decline since 2014/2015.
- Strong majorities say they prefer democracy (64%) and reject three types of authoritarianism: one-person rule (79%), one-party rule (76%), and military rule (65%).
- But all four indicators of democratic support have weakened over the past decade, including an 11-percentage-point drop in opposition to military rule.
- Only 36% of Africans express a full "demand for democracy," meaning they prefer democracy over any other regime and also reject all three authoritarian alternatives. This share of "committed democrats" varies widely by country, from just 8% in Mali to 64% in Zambia.
- On average, demand for democracy has declined by 10 percentage points over the past decade, with drops ranging up to 37 points in Gabon.
- While demand for democracy still exceeds its perceived supply, the gap has narrowed from 11 to 4 percentage points since 2014/2015.
- Analysis of the data reveals that increasingly negative evaluations of government performance are a key factor associated with the decline in popular commitment to democracy.
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Democracy in Africa has faced considerable challenges over the past decade. According to the Lexical Index of Electoral Democracy (Skaaning, 2021), while most of the democracies surveyed by Afrobarometer a decade ago have maintained democratic rule, several have experienced democratic backsliding in the years since to "multiparty autocracies" (Benin, Nigeria, Côte d'Ivoire, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, and Tanzania) or military regimes (Burkina Faso, Madagascar, and Mali). Only one country has improved its position, as Zambia returned to "electoral democracy" status in 2021 (Herre, Rodés-Guirao, & Ortiz-Ospina, 2026a; France24, 2026). As measured by V-Dem's (2026) indices of liberal democracy, many other countries have experienced declines in the quality of electoral contestation and political freedoms over the same period (Herre, Rodés Guirao, & Ortiz-Ospina, 2026b).
These developments raise the question: How hungry are ordinary Africans for democracy?
Since its inception, Afrobarometer's surveys have contained sets of questions that measure the extent to which people want to live in a democratically governed society (or what we call "demand for democracy") and the degree to which they believe they are living in a democracy (what we have termed the perceived "supply of democracy").
Over the past decade, Afrobarometer surveys have shown that Africans' evaluations of democratic supply lag behind their demand for democracy, revealing a persistent gap between what citizens want and what they receive from their political regimes (Mattes, 2019; Afrobarometer, 2023, 2024).
The latest Afrobarometer survey findings suggest some important adjustments to this larger picture. The gap between popular demand for democracy and the perceived supply thereof is narrowing. However, notwithstanding a minor rebound in democratic delivery, political systems have not begun to provide appreciable gains in democratic practice. Rather, the gap is narrowing because citizens in many countries are increasingly likely to entertain the idea of non-democratic forms of government.
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Three main sets of factors have contributed to declining overall demand: disproportionately larger drops in commitment among traditionally pro-democratic groups, reductions in the size of many of those same groups, and, perhaps most importantly, increasingly negative evaluations of government performance across the board.
Robert Mattes Robert Mattes is a professor of government and public policy at the University of Strathclyde and a co-founder of Afrobarometer.
Suhaylah Peeraullee Suhaylah Peeraullee is the capacity building trainer for Afrobarometer.
Rehan Visser Rehan Visser is an editor at Afrobarometer
