turnout

   The proportion of people who turn out to vote in any election. Figures between countries vary, some showing the proportion of the registered electorate who vote, some the proportion of people over the lower voting age limit who do so. In some countries registration and voting is made easier than in others. In a few cases, it is compulsory.

   Electoral turnout is variable, its level varying from country to country and – within Britain – from one type of election to another. It varies from one election to the next, across constituencies and local government wards and from person to person. Some people always vote, some occasionally do and some never vote.

   In recent years, levels of turnout have been falling in much of the democratic world, Denmark and Sweden resisting the general trend which has been marked in United Kingdom (UK) general elections. UK turnout fell to a postwar low of 59.4 per cent in 2001, only slightly improving in 2005 (61.3 per cent). Turnout in Britain has tended for many years to be lower than on the continent.