Young people stay home on voters day

Young people are showing less and less interest in local government elections.

In 2005, 30% of 18 and 19-year-olds surveyed by the IEC said they were registered to vote. In 2021, it was only 15%.

According to the same survey, 49% of 20 to 24-year-olds in 2021 were registered, compared to 57% in 2005, while 79% of 25 to 34-year-olds were registered in 2021, compared to 86% in 2005.

Young people are also less likely than older people to actually turn out on election day. Among people aged 18 and 19, 71% of registered voters turned out in 2021. This may seems impressive, but remember only about 15% of this age group were registered, according to the IEC survey. So the few who have newly registered, are generally keen to participate in the elections.

Among people aged 20 to 29, only 35% of registered voters turned out in 2021, down from 50% in 2016. The figures were similar for people aged 30 to 39.

Voter turnout for people 40 and older averaged 54% – down from 62% in 2016.

Older voters are more likely to be registered, and more likely to vote, than younger voters. This means the municipal electorate skews substantially older than the population.

Overall, 46% of registered voters, and less than a third of all eligible voters, actually cast a ballot in the 2021 local government elections.

Local government elections draw fewer people than national elections – 16.3-million people voted in the 2024 national elections, compared to 12.1-million in the 2021 local elections.

A lack of trust in government and the failure of municipalities to provide services are often cited as the main drivers for low participation in local elections. For young people, harsh economic realities, such as high youth unemployment, likely compound this.

Chart produced by The Outlier in partnership with GroundUp

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