Personal ValuesValues Research & Tools

Personal value statistics: Independence

Independence appeared in the ranked ten of 14.8% of the 2,131,634 assessments completed since 2020, which makes it the 28th most frequently ranked of the 62 core values.

By , founder of personalvalu.esData updated

What independence means as a value →

At a glance, 2020 to 2026

Appearance rateof assessments rank it in their ten. 28th of 62 values.
14.8%
First placeof assessments put it first. 34th of 62 on this measure.
0.8%
Top threeof assessments put it in the top three. 20% of those who rank it.
2.9%
Average positionis its mean position, out of ten, where it is ranked at all.
6.2

In the overall ranking independence sits just below Meaningful work (15.2%) and just above Helpfulness (14.8%).

How the Popularity of Independence Has Changed

In 2020 independence appeared in 14.7% of assessments and ranked 31st. In 2026 so far it appeared in 15.7% and ranked 24th, a rise of 1.0 percentage points.

Pick a measure, and read it by year or month by month. A month holds a few thousand assessments, so it moves more than a year does. The gaps are months the archive has no data for.

Independence, year by year

Each rank is among the 62 values that year, by appearance rate. The arrow is its move from the year before.

Independence by year: assessments, appearance rate and rank, first place, top three and average position
YearAssessmentsAppearance rateRankFirst placeTop threeAverage position
202084,37814.7%31st0.8%2.9%6.2
2021224,09615.4%29th▲20.8%3.1%6.2
2022179,27115.3%30th▼10.9%3.1%6.2
2023397,24915.0%29th▲10.9%3.1%6.2
2024460,24414.5%29th0.8%2.9%6.2
2025449,23313.9%29th0.7%2.6%6.3
2026 so far337,16315.7%24th▲50.8%3.1%6.2

2020 holds 6 months of data and 2022 holds 7 months of data, so their figures cover part of the year. 2026 covers January to October 2026.

Independence by Country

Of the 26 countries with enough assessments to publish, participants in Poland rank independence most often, at 22.5%, and those in Hong Kong SAR China least often, at 10.6%.

Country is recorded for the assessments from December 2025 to October 2026, so this section reads those 300,899 assessments and compares each country with all of them.

Where independence is ranked most often

15.5% of participants rank independence in their top ten, from 22.5% in Poland to 10.6% in Hong Kong SAR China. Tap or hover a country to see its top values.

  • 10–12%
  • 12–14%
  • 14–17%
  • 17–19%
  • 19–21%
  • 21–23%
  • too few assessments
Appearance rate of independence by country, December 2025 to October 2026
CountryAppearance ratevs average (pp)Rank there
Poland
22.5%
+7.015th of 62
Italy
19.9%
+4.316th of 62
France
19.7%
+4.220th of 62
Ireland
19.6%
+4.118th of 62
Vietnam
18.9%
+3.420th of 62
Germany
18.8%
+3.320th of 62
Switzerland
18.6%
+3.120th of 62
Romania
17.9%
+2.321st of 62
Netherlands
17.6%
+2.121st of 62
Mexico
17.5%
+1.921st of 62
New Zealand
16.4%
+0.923rd of 62
Canada
16.0%
+0.524th of 62
Malaysia
15.8%
+0.326th of 62
United Arab Emirates
15.6%
+0.123rd of 62
United States
15.5%
+0.024th of 62
Singapore
15.5%
−0.029th of 62
Australia
15.2%
−0.426th of 62
South Africa
15.1%
−0.427th of 62
United Kingdom
14.8%
−0.727th of 62
India
14.7%
−0.927th of 62
Indonesia
14.4%
−1.135th of 62
Saudi Arabia
14.0%
−1.530th of 62
Brazil
12.3%
−3.238th of 62
Egypt
12.1%
−3.433rd of 62
Philippines
11.1%
−4.437th of 62
Hong Kong SAR China
10.6%
−5.040th of 62

Every assessment with a known country, 15.5%

Independence by Age

Independence is ranked less often with age, from 17.4% of assessments among participants under 18 to 16.7% among those 65 and over, about 0.4 points per band.

Age is an optional question after the ranking, so this section reads the 75,449 assessments from December 2025 to October 2026 whose participants gave one. A difference between bands mixes what changes as people age with what differs between generations.

Appearance rate of independence by age band, December 2025 to October 2026
AgeAppearance ratevs average (pp)Rank there
Under 18
17.4%
+1.120th of 62
18–24
16.8%
+0.524th of 62
25–34
16.0%
−0.324th of 62
35–44
15.0%
−1.327th of 62
45–54
15.7%
−0.626th of 62
55–64
16.0%
−0.327th of 62
65 and over
16.7%
+0.422nd of 62

Everyone who gave an age, 16.3%

Independence by Gender

Women rank independence more often than men, by 2.7 percentage points.

Gender is optional too, asked beside age, so this section reads the 73,168 assessments from December 2025 to October 2026 whose participants gave one. “Prefer not to say” is counted in no group.

Appearance rate of independence by gender, December 2025 to October 2026
GenderAppearance ratevs average (pp)Rank there
Women
17.4%
+1.121st of 62
Men
14.7%
−1.630th of 62
Non-binary
15.9%
−0.430th of 62

Everyone who gave a gender, 16.3%

About These Figures

Every figure on this page is a share of completed assessments on Personalvalu.es, read from the same aggregates as the Global Values Research. The appearance rate is how often independence is among a participant's ten most important values. It is not a score, and a difference between groups describes the participants in them without explaining it.

How the aggregates are built, and why some countries and groups are left out, is set out in the methodology. Month-by-month figures for every value are in the monthly archive.

Statistics for every value

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