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Voter turnout

Map No. 360

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Between 1945 and 1998, the average voter turnout was 64%. Turnout means casting your vote. In most territories having the right to vote also means having the right not to vote. Sometimes abstaining from voting makes as strong a statement as voting. Here, turnout refers to voting in various types of elections which are not directly comparable between territories due to different political systems.

The highest voter turnouts have been recorded in Italy and the Seychelles, at 91%. High voluntary turnout to vote is encouraged by voter anonymity, a belief in the value of political processes, and accessible ballot boxes.

Jamaica’s president, Portia Simpson-Miller is a "politician who has really hit home when it comes to the majority of people - especially women, the poor and the unemployed." Kathy Barrett, 2006

Territory size shows the estimated proportion of all people who voted in elections between 1945 and 1998 who voted there.

• Open PDF poster, designed for printing. You need Acrobat Reader.
• View labelled territory map or population map for comparison
• Data files: Excel (large with map), Excel (small no map), Opendoc format (see notes)
• Technical notes for this data.
• High Resolution image (see copyright conditions)
• All of the data we use is estimated; see data page