Voting turnout decreased clearly among young men in the second round of the Presidential election 2024

Data on votes cast

The effect of background factors on voting turnout is examined by means of data on votes cast. Data on votes cast are based on entries made in the electronic voting register concerning votes cast at polling stations. The examination covers persons entitled to vote in the Presidential election 2024, advance voters in the whole country and all who voted in such municipalities and voting districts where an electronic voting register was used. The examined voter groups are separate but partly overlapping. The following terms are used for these voter groups in the text, tables and figures:

Group 1. Advance voters:

• All persons who voted in advance in the elections in the whole country

Group 2. Persons who voted in the areas:

• Advance voters and persons who voted on the election day in the voting districts that used an electronic voting register.

There were 4,281,711 persons entitled to vote resident in Finland in the Presidential election 2024. Of these persons, 1,912,450, i.e. 44.7 per cent of all persons entitled to vote, voted in advance. In the voting districts from which data were also available on voting on the election day, there were 2,310,533 persons entitled to vote in the first round and 2,319,545 in the second round. Thus, data including voting on the election day were available for 54.0 per cent of persons entitled to vote in the first round and for 54.2 per cent in the second round.

An electronic voting register is necessary for examining voting turnout on the election day. Data on voting on the election day were available from 196 municipalities in the first round and from 198 municipalities in the second round. Data were available from all voting districts concerning 151 municipalities in the first round and 153 municipalities in the second round. For some voting districts, data were available in both rounds from 45 municipalities.

The voting districts and municipalities where an electronic register was used are not divided evenly on the level of the whole country. The most exhaustive data from constituencies were available from the constituency of Central Finland, on 91.1 per cent of persons entitled to vote in both rounds. The coverage was weakest in the constituency of Helsinki, where data were available in both election rounds from two voting districts, covering 0.9 per cent of persons entitled to vote in the constituency.

In the areas with an electronic voting register, persons entitled to vote do not much differ from all persons entitled to vote in terms of the key socio-economic background factors. Differences in the age, sex, main type of activity and language of persons entitled to vote are marginal between the areas and the whole country. The difference is biggest in the educational structure of the groups. There are slightly fewer people (2.0 percentage points) with at least master's or equivalent degree in the areas than in the whole country.

Interpretation of data on votes cast

The number of voters based on data on votes cast is not exactly the same as in the result data of the elections. There may be small differences by area in the numbers of voters extracted from different sources. This is because the number of those who voted in the election result data is based on ballots, while the data on votes cast are based on entries made in the electronic voting register on those who voted.

Differences between these sources may arise for example because of the following reasons: 1) a vote cast in advance voting is not taken into account on the basis of the Election Act, 2) an advance vote is not received before the deadline, 3) possible procedural errors on the day of the election, e.g. a voter has not left a ballot or two ballots clinging together were given to a voter, or 4) different recording errors. These random factors are not corrected in the data on votes cast.

Therefore, the exact number of persons who voted cannot in all cases be selected from the database tables if the election results based on ballots are wanted. The numbers of persons who voted presented in the tables describe the entries in the voting register. It is impossible to correct possible erroneous entries afterwards.

Men's voting turnout especially fell in the second round

In the voting districts where all voting data were available, 74.2 per cent of persons entitled to vote cast their vote in the first round and 69.7 per cent in the second round. Women voted more actively than men in the areas. In the first round, men's voting turnout exceeded women’s in the age group of those aged 75 or over and in the second round in the age group of those aged 80 or over.

In the whole country, 47.8 per cent of women entitled to vote voted in advance in the first round and 50.6 per cent in the second round. The difference compared to men was 6.4 percentage points in the first round and 8.6 percentage points in the second round. In the areas 76.6 per cent of women voted in the first round and 73.7 per cent in the second round. The difference compared to men was 4.8 percentage points in the first round and 8.1 percentage points in the second round.

Persons who voted in the areas by sex and age group in the Presidential elections 2024, %

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In both elections, voting turnout was lowest for men aged 19, being 54.2 per cent in the first round and 46.0 per cent in the second round. In the second round, men's and women's voting turnout fell most in the age group of those aged 18. The difference between the election rounds in the voting turnout of the age group was 4.8 percentage points for women and 12.0 percentage points for men. Men's voting turnout also decreased by over ten percentage points in the 20 to 24 age group.

Voting percentage higher in higher income brackets

The income level of those who voted and of persons entitled to vote is examined with the help of disposable monetary income. Income data derive from the latest taxation data from 2022. Disposable monetary income refers to monetary income after taxes. This consist of earned income, property income, benefits in kind and transfer income.

The income of persons entitled to vote is divided into quintiles. Quintiles are derived by arranging persons entitled to vote by income and by dividing the group into five equal parts. The groups formed in this way have around 855,000 persons entitled to vote for all persons entitled to vote in the whole country. In the areas from which data were received on voting on the election day as well, the groups have around 462,000 persons entitled to vote.

For the whole country, income data are missing for some 6,400 persons entitled to vote. In the data for the areas containing election day votes, income data were missing for some 2,500 persons entitled to vote. The median for the disposable monetary income of all persons entitled to vote was around EUR 24,400 per year. In the examined areas, the corresponding median income was around EUR 24,000.

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The effect of income on voting turnout was clear for all who voted. As a rule, voting was more common in higher income groups than in lower income groups. Of those belonging to the highest income quintile, 87.2 per cent voted in the first round and 83.8 per cent in the second round. In the lowest quintile, voting turnout in the first round was 62.0 per cent and in the second round 57.0 per cent. Thus, the difference in voting turnout between the lowest and highest income quintiles was over 25 percentage points in the first round and nearly 27 percentage points in the second round.

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Highly educated and employed persons are active voters

Persons entitled to vote with lowest tertiary or higher level of education voted more often than average. The voting percentage of persons with master's or doctoral level education was 17.9 percentage points higher in the first round than that of all persons entitled to vote and 33.7 percentage points higher than that of all persons entitled to vote with only basic level education.

In educational groups, men's voting turnout that takes into account all who voted was lower than women's in all educational groups in both elections. The difference between sexes was biggest among those with upper secondary level education. The difference between men's and women's voting turnout grew in all educational groups in the second round.

Persons who voted in the areas and advance voters by level of education in the Presidential elections 2024

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Lowest tertiary level qualifications decrease in the population and no new qualifications are completed in Finland in this category, so the age structure of the educational group differs clearly from other groups. Lowest tertiary level education covers qualifications above upper secondary level that are not university of applied sciences degrees.

Employed persons were the most active voters among all persons entitled to vote, 78.9 per cent of whom voted in the first round and 74.0 per cent in the second round. In the first round, pensioners' voting turnout was slightly lower than that of all who voted (-1.1 percentage points) and in the second round it was on level with all who voted. In other groups of main type of activity, voting turnout was below the level of all persons entitled to vote. Of those whose main type of activity was known, voting turnout was lowest for those in the inactive population, 51.0 per cent in the first and 47.2 per cent in the second round.

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In groups of main type of activity, advance voting was most common among pensioners. Of pensioners, 53.6 per cent voted in advance in the first round and 55.0 per cent in the second round. In other groups of main type of activity, the share of advance voters was relatively smaller than among all persons entitled to vote.

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Voting turnout of persons with foreign background was low

In the first round, 74.9 per cent of Finnish and Sami speakers voted and in the second round 70.1 per cent. The voting percentage was highest for Swedish speakers, 79.1 per cent in the first round and 77.9 per cent in the second round. The voting turnout of foreign-language speakers was clearly below those, at its highest 42.8 per cent in the first round.

In Presidential elections, the right to vote is linked to nationality. There are thus fewer persons entitled to vote speaking other than national languages as their native language than in the Municipal elections, for example. Of all persons entitled to vote, 91.4 per cent were Finnish or Sami speakers, 5.2 per cent Swedish-speaking and 3.3 per cent other language speakers. In the areas from which data on all who voted were available, there were slightly more Finnish-speaking persons entitled to vote and slightly fewer Swedish and foreign-language speakers than among all persons entitled to vote.

Persons who voted in the areas and advance voters by origin and language in the Presidential elections 2024

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The examination by origin does not change the picture formed on the basis of language groups. The difference between voting turnout among persons with Finnish background and foreign background was 31.6 percentage points in the first round and 29.4 percentage points in the second round.