Pakistanis prefer democracy less than most countries: survey

A survey involving over five billion people has shown that people in Pakistan are some of the least favoured towards democracy in the world.

The survey, conducted by Open Society Foundation, reached 36,000 people across 30 countries representing over 5.5 billion people.

Overall, the survey found that 86% people consider democracy to be a better form of government. However, 20% people believe that authoritarian countries can really deliver solutions to problems faced by people.

Out of the 30 countries, Pakistan stood 28th in terms of its preference towards democracy.

The survey ranked each countries score of importance given to democracy out of 100. The average came to 86 points.

Out of the the 30 countries, 18 scored above average. Nigeria and Turkey scored the highest with 96. Other countries above average included China, Bangladesh, Egypt, Mexico and Italy, among others.

Germany stood right at the average with exactly 86 points. However, 11 countries fell below the average score including Pakistan. Surprisingly, the countries that scored below average include France and United States as well.

Graph via Open Society Foundation.
However, Pakistan scored a meagre 79 points to stand at 28 out of 30 countries. Only Russia and Saudi Arabia scored worse than Pakistan.

The survey also showed that attitudes towards democracy vary with age.

The inclination towards military rule is higher in younger people. The survey showed that 42% people within the ages of 18-35 said they preferred military or authoritarian rule.

This is especially relevant to Pakistan, where a large section of the population and voters is made up of youth.

The preference for army rule drops with age, with only 33% preferring it between ages of 36-55 and only 20% preferring it over the age of 55.