Do Political Scales Tend To Tip to the Right?

While it is an extreme simplification to place entire countries into the boxes of left and right – hiding regional disparities within these figures as well as individuals’ differing opinions on specific policies and issues – Statista Consumer Insights data on political positions across countries does highlight a number of interesting patterns.

Firstly, in several of the 32 countries included in the survey, the largest group of people self-identify as holding positions in the political center. For example, in Germany, 41 percent of respondents said that they were in the center, versus 21 percent who saw themselves on the right and 22 percent who saw themselves on the left. This was also true, for example, in Japan and South Africa.

According to the data, India and Brazil had the highest share of people saying that they held right-wing views, at 49 percent and 38 percent, respectively. Yet, Brazil was also among the countries with the highest share of people with left-wing views. This suggests that the South American country has a particularly strong divide, with the smallest share of people standing in the center position, while a higher share pick either the left or right camps. The same pattern could be observed in France.

In many countries, the group of people identifying with the right was largest, whether followed by left-wingers or by centrists, like is the case in the United States and India.

Brazil's number of people saying they held left-wing views was only topped by Sweden, South Africa and Spain, the latter being the only country in the survey where left-winger constituted the biggest group.