Fact Tank - News In Numbers | Pew Research Center

By Alexandra Castillo, Christine Huang and Laura Silver

More people around the world are dissatisfied than satisfied with the way democracy is working in their country, according to a new Pew Research Center report based on a survey of 27 countries conducted in spring 2018.

People who are dissatisfied with democracy in their country are less likely to feel that economic conditions in their country are good, that the financial situation of average people has improved over the past 20 years, and that key democratic norms are being respected, the study finds. Notably, however, dissatisfaction with democracy has little relationship to external assessments of how wealthy or democratic a given country actually is, based on measures from the World Bank, Freedom House, the Economist Intelligence Unit and the Electoral Integrity Project.

Below are four charts that look at dissatisfaction with democracy in more detail:

1Dissatisfaction with democracy is not related to the overall wealth of a country, but it is strongly related to pessimistic views of the current economic situation. This is the case whether wealth is measured as gross domestic product or as GDP per capita. For example, 9% of Brazilians think their economic situation is good, and 83% are dissatisfied with the way democracy is working in their country. Swedes, on the other hand, have a much rosier outlook on both their economy and democracy: 81% think their country’s economic situation is good, and only about a third (30%) say they are dissatisfied with democracy.

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Eastern Europe Western Europe Mexico Russia Trust, Facts and Democracy Trust in Institutions Sub-Saharan Africa Asia and the Pacific National Conditions Free Speech Latin America Europe Middle East and North Africa North America Democracy Political Attitudes and Values

By John Gramlich

Since 2002, Pew Research Center has conducted more than 500,000 interviews with people in 64 countries to learn their views about international and domestic politics, economics and other front-burner topics. Our newly updated Global Indicators Database serves as an interactive repository of these findings. You can use the database to explore public opinion around the world by country, region, subject area and year.

Here are five noteworthy trends in global public opinion, drawn from the database:

1More than half of the public in all 27 countries we surveyed in 2018 say trade is a good thing for their nation. This is true in advanced and emerging economies alike. The share of adults who say trade is a good thing ranges from a high of 93% in the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden to a low of 54% in Argentina. In the United States, where President Donald Trump has been renegotiating U.S. trade agreements with other countries, 74% of adults say trade is a good thing for the nation.

While most see trade positively in principle, far fewer believe that increased trade will bring specific benefits, such as more jobs, higher wages or lower prices, a September 2018 Pew Research Center report found. People in advanced economies are especially skeptical of the role of trade in boosting wages: A median of just 31% across 18 advanced economies believes this is the case, compared with 47% across nine emerging economies.

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China Globalization and Trade Foreign Affairs and Policy International Governments and Institutions Asia and the Pacific International Survey Methods

By Carroll Doherty

Americans have more favorable views of the Israeli and Palestinian peoples than of their governments, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. And as previous surveys on this subject have shown, there are substantial partisan differences in these attitudes.

The survey was conducted April 1-15 among 10,523 adults on the Center’s nationally representative American Trends Panel. It asked one group of people whether they had favorable or unfavorable opinions of the Israeli people and, separately, of the Palestinian people. Another group of respondents was asked for its opinions of the Israeli government and the Palestinian government.

(There is not a unified Palestinian government; rather, since 2007, there have been two Palestinian governments, one on the West Bank and the other in the Gaza Strip. To make this question accessible for respondents, and to provide a comparison with views of the Israeli government, the question asks about the “Palestinian government.”)

For decades – most recently, last year – the Center asked a different question on this topic: “In the dispute between Israel and the Palestinians, which side do you sympathize with more, Israel or the Palestinians?” The Center has asked this question since 1993; for more than a decade before that, it was included in surveys conducted by Gallup for the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations. Since 1993, this question has been asked on telephone surveys. Previously, it had been asked in face-to-face interviews.

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Polling International Governments and Institutions Middle East and North Africa Research Methods

By Adam Hughes and Stefan Wojcik

We know from Pew Research Center surveys that 22% of U.S. adults use Twitter. But surveys can only tell us so much about how these Americans actually use the platform.

A new Pew Research Center study goes a step further. First, we asked survey respondents whether they use Twitter and, if so, for permission to look at their Twitter accounts. After reviewing each account, we quantified these Americans’ tweets, likes, followers and followings. The result is the Center’s first study of Twitter behavior that’s based on a representative sample of U.S. adults who use the platform.

Here are some highlights from the study:

Among U.S. adults, Twitter discourse is dominated by a small share of tweeters. The most prolific tweeters – those in the top 10% by number of tweets – are responsible for 80% of all tweets created by U.S. adults. That includes all types of tweets: original tweets, retweets and quote tweets.
Most U.S. adult Twitter users don’t engage much. The median Twitter user posts two tweets a month, favorites one tweet a month, follows 89 accounts and has 25 followers.
The most prolific tweeters among U.S. adults are especially likely to be women. Among the most prolific tweeters – again, those in the top 10% by number of tweets – 65% are women. Women account for 48% of less prolific users.

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Social Media Internet Activities Technology Adoption

By Drew DeSilver

A Russian army conscript leaves Sevastopol on a train during the country’s spring 2018 military draft campaign. (Sergei Malgavko/TASS via Getty Images)

A federal judge in Texas made news in February when he ruled that the United States’ male-only draft is unconstitutional. Many Americans, though, might not be aware that the U.S. still has a draft.

It does, though mostly just on paper. For nearly four decades, the draft law’s only major requirement has been for men – but not women – to register with the Selective Service System within 30 days of their 18th birthday in case conscription is ever brought back.

In fact, the U.S. is one of 23 countries where the military draft is authorized but not currently implemented. An additional 60 countries – fewer than a third of the 191 for which Pew Research Center found reliable information – have some form of an active conscription program. The other 108 countries we examined have no legal provision for compulsory military service; 23 of these don’t even have conventional armed forces.

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Gender Military and Veterans

By Monica Anderson, Andrew Perrin, Jingjing Jiang and Madhumitha Kumar

For many Americans, going online is an important way to connect with friends and family, shop, get news and search for information. Yet today, 10% of U.S. adults do not use the internet, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of survey data.

The size of this group has changed little over the past four years, despite ongoing government and social service programs to encourage internet adoption in underserved areas. But that 10% figure is substantially lower than in 2000, when the Center first began to study the social impact of technology. That year, nearly half (48%) of American adults did not use the internet.

Internet non-adoption is linked to a number of demographic variables, including age, educational attainment, household income and community type, the Center’s latest analysis finds.

For instance, seniors are much more likely than younger adults to say they never go online. Although the share of non-internet users ages 65 and older has decreased by 7 percentage points since 2018, 27% still do not use the internet, compared with fewer than 10% of adults under the age of 65. Household income and education are also indicators of a person’s likelihood to be offline. Roughly three-in-ten adults with less than a high school education (29%) do not use the internet in 2019, compared with 35% in 2018. But that share falls as the level of educational attainment increases. Adults from households earning less than $30,000 a year are far more likely than the most affluent adults to not use the internet (18% vs. 2%).

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Internet Activities Technology Adoption Digital Divide

By Cary Funk and Brian Kennedy

The degree to which climate change threatens the ecosystems of the Earth and societies around the world has been an ongoing subject of debate – and sometimes protest. As Earth Day nears, we take stock of U.S. public opinion about climate change, based on recent Pew Research Center surveys.

For more on how people globally see climate change, see our companion post, “For Earth Day, a look at how people around the world view climate change.”

1Compared with a decade ago, more Americans today say protecting the environment and dealing with global climate change should be top priorities for the president and Congress. A majority of U.S. adults (56%) say protecting the environment should be a top priority for the president and Congress, while a smaller share (44%) says the same about dealing with global climate change, according to a 2019 Pew Research Center survey.

Americans have a long to-do list for the president and Congress. Protecting the environment has been near the middle of the public’s priorities in Center surveys over the past decade, while dealing with climate change has been lower on the list. But the shares of Americans who consider each to be a top priority have grown considerably since 2011. The increase has been especially pronounced among Democrats.

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Political Polarization Energy and Environment Political Attitudes and Values

By Moira Fagan and Christine Huang

Protesters in Athens hold a banner calling for more efforts to stop climate change. Nine-in-ten in Greece say global climate change is a major threat to the country. (Helen Paroglou/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

April 22 is Earth Day, an annual event that highlights environmental concerns and encourages civic action. This year’s Earth Day comes amid widespread global concern about climate change.

Here are five facts about how people globally see climate change, drawn from a 2018 Pew Research Center survey on how people evaluate eight potential threats, as well as other polls conducted by the Center. (For more on how people in the United States see climate change, see our companion post, “How Americans see climate change in 5 charts.”)

1Majorities in most surveyed countries say global climate change is a major threat to their nation. In fact, it’s seen as the top threat in 13 of 26 surveyed countries, more than any other issue the survey asked about.

People in Greece express very high levels of concern, with 90% labeling climate change a major threat (similar to the 88% there who cite the condition of the global economy). People in South Korea, France, Spain and Mexico also express strong concerns. Eight-in-ten or more in each of these countries say climate change is a major threat.

Americans are less likely to be concerned about climate change, with 59% seeing it as a serious threat. About as many people in the United States cite climate change as point to ISIS (62%) and North Korea’s nuclear program (58%). Americans most frequently cite cyberattacks as a major threat.

People in Russia (43%), Nigeria (41%) and Israel (38%) are the least likely to say climate change is a major threat to their nation.

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Energy and Environment Political Attitudes and Values

By Elizabeth Grieco

Americans in urban communities are more likely to say local news media mostly cover the area where they live, while rural residents say that their local news media mostly cover another area, such as a nearby city, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.

Roughly six-in-ten self-described urban residents (62%) say their local news media mainly cover the area they live in, while a majority of those who describe themselves as rural residents (57%) say the opposite is true – their local news media mostly cover some other area, a concern raised by many journalism watchers following newsroom cutbacks and media consolidation. Self-described suburbanites are more evenly split, according to the survey conducted Oct. 15-Nov. 8, 2018, among nearly 35,000 U.S. adults.

Urban residents are also more likely than those in rural and suburban areas to feel that their local news media have a lot of influence on their communities: 44% of urban residents say so, compared with 30% of those in rural areas and 38% in suburban areas.

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Local News News Audience Trends and Attitudes News Interest News Media Sectors

By Anthony Cilluffo and D’Vera Cohn

Demographers, sociologists, economists and other researchers gather in Austin, Texas, this week for the annual meeting of the Population Association of America. As the meeting convenes, here are six notable demographic trends highlighted in Pew Research Center analyses over the past year:

1Millennials are the largest adult generation in the United States, but they are starting to share the spotlight with Generation Z. This year, Millennials, those ages 23 to 38, will outnumber Baby Boomers (ages 55 to 73), according to Census Bureau projections. Now in their young adulthood, Millennials are more educated, more racially and ethnically diverse and slower to marry than previous generations were at the same age. But after growing up in the Great Recession, their economic picture is mixed: Young adult households are earning more than most older Americans did at the same age, but have less wealth than Boomers did at the same age, partly because they are more likely to have higher amounts of student loan debt.

Although the nation’s 73 million Millennials are the largest living adult generation, the next one – Generation Z – is entering adulthood. Also known as the post-Millennials, Gen Zers (those born after 1996 – ages 7 to 22 for this analysis) are on track to be the best educated and most diverse generation yet. Nearly half of Gen Zers (48%) are racial or ethnic minorities. Socially and politically, their liberal-leaning opinions on key issues are similar to those of Millennials.

2Hispanics are projected to be the largest racial or ethnic minority group in the U.S. electorate when voters cast their ballots next year. The number of eligible voters who are Hispanic (32 million) is projected to surpass that of black eligible voters (30 million) for the first time, according to Pew Research Center projections based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau. However, voter turnout will play an important role in the influence of different racial and ethnic groups. In past elections, black voter turnout substantially surpassed Hispanic voter turnout. The projections indicate that whites will account for two-thirds of the electorate, a declining share.

As the nation’s demographics are changing, so are those of Congress, though not as rapidly, according to a February 2019 Pew Research Center analysis. Nonwhites have risen to 22% of Congress, and women are a record 24% of voting lawmakers (a share that matches the average in legislatures worldwide). The share of immigrants in Congress has ticked up, but at 3% remains short of historical highs and far below the foreign-born share of the total U.S. population (13.6% as of 2017). An influx of younger representatives is having a small impact on the median age of the House of Representatives, according to a November 2018 analysis.

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Population Trends Demographics

NEWS IN THE NUMBERS

In many countries, dissatisfaction with democracy is tied to views about economic conditions, personal rights

5 trends in international public opinion from our searchable Global Indicators Database

A new perspective on Americans’ views of Israelis and Palestinians

Fewer than a third of countries currently have a military draft; most exclude women

10% of Americans don’t use the internet. Who are they?

How Americans see climate change in 5 charts

A look at how people around the world view climate change

For many rural residents in U.S., local news media mostly don’t cover the area where they live

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