Pew Research Center: Global support for principle of free expression, but opposition to some forms of speech

People around the world embrace fundamental democratic values, including free expression, a Pew Research Center survey finds.

Majorities in nearly all 38 nations polled say it is at least somewhat important to live in a country with free speech, a free press and freedom on the internet. And across the 38 countries, global medians of 50% or more consider these freedoms very important.

Still, ideas about free expression vary widely across regions and nations. The United States stands out for its especially strong opposition to government censorship, as do countries in Latin America and Europe, in particular Argentina, Germany, Spain and Chile. In general, majorities in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and the Middle East also oppose censorship, albeit with less intensity.   While free expression is popular across the globe, other democratic rights are even more widely embraced. In Western and non-Western nations, across the global North and South, majorities want freedom of religion, gender equality, and honest, competitive elections.

However, the strength of commitment to individual liberties varies. Americans are among the strongest supporters of these freedoms. Europeans are especially likely to want gender equality and competitive elections, but somewhat less likely than others to prioritize religious freedom. The right to worship freely is most popular in sub-Saharan Africa. Even though broad democratic values are popular, it is also clear that people across the globe have different ways of conceptualizing individual rights and the parameters of free expression.

Publics tend to support free speech in principle, but they also want to put limitations on certain types of speech. While a global median of 80% believe people should be allowed to freely criticize government policies, only 35% think they should be allowed to make public statements that are offensive to minority groups, or that are religiously offensive. Even fewer support allowing sexually explicit statements or calls for violent protest. Additional key findings in the report include:

Government Censorship: Overall, global publics oppose government censorship of the media, except in cases of national security. There is a near consensus that media organizations should be able to publish information about large political protests in the country – across the nations polled, a median of 78% say this. Most (a global median of 59%) also think media groups should be able to publish information that might destabilize the national economy.

Religious Freedom: Across the countries polled, a median of 74% say it is very important for people to be free to practice their religion. The right to worship freely is particularly significant in sub-Saharan Africa – across the eight nations polled in the region, a median of 87% say this is very important, including 90% in Nigeria and Senegal. Americans are also among the most supportive of religious freedom – 84% in the US say it is very important.

Competitive elections:  Elections are clearly considered a central component of democracy, and across the 38 nations in the study, a median of 61% think it is very important to have honest, competitive elections with the choice of at least two political parties.

Gender equality:  On the issue of equal rights for women, there are sharp differences between men and women in most of the countries in the study. In 24 nations, women are more likely than men to say it is very important for women to have equal rights. Gender gaps are particularly common in many emerging and developing nations. For instance, the difference between men and women is more than 20 percentage points in Tanzania, Pakistan, Senegal and Uganda.

Internet freedom: Even though internet freedom ranks last among the six broad democratic rights included on the survey, majorities in 32 of 38 countries nonetheless say it is important to live in a country where people can use the internet without government censorship. Across the 38 nations, a median of 50% believe it is very important to live in a country with an uncensored internet. Support for internet freedom is highest in Argentina, the US, Germany and Spain – roughly seven-in-ten in these four nations consider it very important. It is lowest in Burkina Faso and Indonesia (21% very important in each country). These are among the main findings of a new Pew Research Center survey, conducted in 38 nations among 40,786 respondents from April 5 to May 21, 2015.

The findings are  available at here.

Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan 'fact tank' that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. It does not take policy positions. The center is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts, its primary funder.

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