Austria's democracy index: relaxation after crisis time!

Austria's democracy index: relaxation after crisis time!

Austria's democracy index shows a remarkable recovery after a low point at the beginning of the year. According to the Lazarsfeld Society for OE24, which creates the index based on 4,000 monthly interviews, the index value was 70 points at the beginning of the year. This value represents an alarming low that was caused by the failure of the traffic light coalition and failed negotiations between the blue and black parties. By reunification of the traffic light coalition in March and April 2023, the value initially rose by 5 points.

The current index value has now stabilized to 76 points. This reflects a certain satisfaction, since 30 % of those surveyed state that the government is more or less satisfied with the government, which means an increase of 2 points compared to the previous week. Nevertheless, the dissatisfaction remains noteworthy, since 40 % of the respondents have to be dissatisfied - an increase by 2 points.

The comparison with Germany

The Ukraine War, which began on February 24, 2022, drastically changed the political framework in Germany. The previous main problems, especially climate change, gave way to foreign policy, energy policy and inflation. This led to a significant loss of trust within the coalition. The first point of dispute was the heating law, which ultimately led to a breach of trust and left the satisfaction of the population further. By June 2023, only 20 % of the citizens were satisfied with the government.

Democracy index in an international context

In a broader context, Austria is in the international democracy index on the 20th place with a value of 8.20. Germany follows closely behind the 14th place with a score of 8.80, in accordance with the latest published data on country data. The ranking is led by Norway, followed by New Zealand and Iceland, all of which are classified as complete democracies.

These figures illustrate the varying experiences in the democracies of Europe. While Austria has signs of stabilization, Germany is faced with profound dissatisfaction among the population, which is reinforced by internal conflicts and external crises.