Federal election 2015 saw big jump in young N.S. voters
Anjuli Patil | CBC News | Posted: June 16, 2016 10:45 AM | Last Updated: June 16, 2016
Largest increase for this age group since Elections Canada began reporting demographic turnout data
Numbers from Elections Canada show young voters in Nova Scotia between 18 and 24 turned out in a big way to cast ballots in the 2015 federal election.
Of 74,572 eligible voters in that age range in the province, about 61.1 per cent of them voted. Of that number, 64.5 per cent were first time voters.
In the 2011 federal election — where there were 81,400 eligible voters in Nova Scotia in that age range — an estimated 37.6 eligible voters hit the polls. In that year, 37.3 per cent of those who voted were first time voters.
That's a total increase of 23.5 percentage points in young voters this election, in comparison to 2011.
Nation wide trend
More young voters participating in the federal election was a trend across Canada. In 2015, the participation of voters aged 18-24 went up by 18.3 percentage points to 57.1 per cent.
Elections Canada said this is the largest increase for this age group since it began reporting demographic data on turnout in 2004.
The number of voters between ages 25 and 34 Canada-wide was also up by 12.3 percentage points to 57.4 per cent from 45.1 per cent in 2011.
Voters aged 65 to 74 still have the highest voter participation groups with a slight increase in 2015 to 78.8 per cent, which is up from 75.1 per cent in the 2011 election.