This article is the fourth in the “Gallup World Poll at 20” series, examining two decades of global trends using data collected in more than 140 countries since 2006. Additional articles in the series will be published throughout 2026.
LONDON — Globally, more people are satisfied with their freedom to choose what they do with their lives than were satisfied two decades ago, with gains driven largely by countries where those satisfied with this freedom were once in the minority. But the sentiment has waned in some places — particularly in established democracies, where such freedoms have long been taken for granted.
In 2025, a median of 82% of adults across 138 countries said they were satisfied with their freedom to choose what they do with their life, while 17% were dissatisfied. This is nominally the highest level of satisfaction on record, though perceptions have been relatively stable near 80% since 2017.
Satisfaction today is significantly higher than the 71% recorded at the start of this Gallup trend two decades ago. The low point of 65% was recorded two years later, in 2008, amid the onset of the global financial crisis.
Former Eastern Bloc Countries See Biggest Gains
Between 2006 and 2025, satisfaction rose by double digits in 54 of the 108 countries surveyed in both years. Only eight countries saw declines of a similar magnitude. Countries across the Balkans, Caucasus, and Eastern and Central Europe, many of which used to be behind the Iron Curtain, stand out for their large rises in satisfaction.
The median across 29 countries in this wider region has climbed more than anywhere else in the world, rising by 33 percentage points from a 2009 low of 49% to reach 82% in 2025. This puts it in line with the global average after lagging well behind two decades ago. Since 2017, when the median was 69%, at least half of adults in each of these 29 countries have been satisfied with their freedoms in life.
While the 29 countries have different political backgrounds — being former Soviet republics, Warsaw Pact satellites or successor states of Yugoslavia — these countries share a 20th-century experience of communist rule and a post-1989 transition away from it. That transition, however, has been far from uniform. Some states, like Estonia and Poland, have integrated into Western institutions through European Union and NATO membership, while others like Kyrgyzstan and Russia remain more autocratic.
The seven largest country-level increases in perceived freedom globally are all seen in this wider region, including Kosovo (+54 points), Albania (+42), Bosnia and Herzegovina (+39), Serbia (+38), Montenegro (+37), Georgia (+34) and Moldova (+34). Many of these used to place significant restrictions on people’s freedoms and have had to fight conflicts for their independence or territorial integrity.
Rising satisfaction with personal freedom among these countries has closely tracked rising life satisfaction there more broadly. This is consistent with World Happiness Report findings that freedom is one of the six main drivers of subjective wellbeing. The biggest global increases in life evaluation over time have also come from the wider region.
G7 Nations Lead Declines in Satisfaction
Four of the eight countries that have seen the steepest declines in satisfaction over the past two decades are G7 members: the United States (-16 points), France (-15), the United Kingdom (-13) and Canada (-10). In 2006, these countries’ satisfaction with the freedom to choose what they do in life averaged near 90%, among the highest globally.
Today, roughly three in four in the U.S., U.K. and France are satisfied, notably below the global average of 82%. In the United States, declines in satisfaction over recent years have been driven primarily by women and those younger than 50 — a pattern not seen in France, the U.K. or Canada.
People’s satisfaction with the freedom to choose what they do in life has declined the most since 2006 in two non-G7 countries. Greece saw the steepest decline of any country measured (-22 points), followed by Lebanon (-18), which has endured overlapping economic and political crises in recent years.
Feeling Free and Being Free Are Not Always the Same
People’s satisfaction with their freedom to choose what they do in life does not align neatly with external measures of how free a country actually is. Freedom House, which has tracked political rights and civil liberties for over half a century, finds that global freedoms have declined consistently during the past two decades — in contrast to Gallup data, which show that people have never felt more satisfied with their personal freedoms globally.
These two measures of freedom are only loosely associated at the national level. Countries where people are more satisfied tend to be more free, such as the Nordics. But this relationship does not always hold.
Greece ranks highly on external freedom measures but reports among the lowest satisfaction globally, at 48%. Cambodia, Vietnam, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain all report satisfaction above 90%, despite very low freedom scores.
Part of this likely reflects a difference in what is being measured: Gallup asks about satisfaction with personal, day-to-day freedom, while Freedom House assesses political rights and institutional conditions. In highly restricted countries, social or political pressure on individuals to report being satisfied may play an additional role.
Economics is also an important aspect of freedom. Satisfaction with personal freedom shares a strong positive association with how people feel about their household finances. Countries with high levels of satisfaction with freedom typically have low percentages of adults saying they are finding things difficult or very difficult on their current incomes.
Bottom Line
Most adults globally are satisfied with their personal freedom to choose what they do with their life, with many of the biggest increases over the past two decades coming from countries with memories of past restrictions on such freedoms, where broader wellbeing has also improved. The steepest declines, however, are concentrated in countries that have historically been considered the freest.
The rise in satisfaction with personal freedoms around the world is also tied, in part, to how people feel about the economy and their finances. Freedom to choose what you do with your life means little if you cannot afford the choices.
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For complete methodology and specific survey dates, please review Gallup's Country Data Set details. Learn more about how the Gallup World Poll works.
