This is how many people actually vote in South Africa vs the UK, USA, Australia and more

South Africa has voter turnout figures on par with many developed nations across the world.

Analysts at Picodi.com South Africa tracked the voter turnout statistics in 187 countries over the last three elections, presidential or parliamentary, and calculated the average voter turnout.

From 2009 to 2019, South Africa’s average voter turnout was 72.28%, placing it 62nd out of the 187 countries investigated.

This is a similar percentage of eligible citizens going to vote was seen in Germany (74.75%), Austria (73.59%) and Italy (70.68%).

South Africa also had higher voter turnout than the UK (67.41%) and the USA (55.50%).

However, Australia, one of the major emigration hotspots for South Africans, has the ninth-highest voter turnout in the world, at 90.94%.

In Africa, South Africa came 12th out of 48, whilst Africa’s largest economy, Nigeria, had the smallest turnout at 29.15%.

Vietnam is the global leader, as 99.10% of citizens participated in elections. This was followed by Laos and Rwanda at 98.55% and 96.65%, respectively.

Haiti had the lowest turnout of any country in the world, with only 21.58% of Haitians participating in elections, followed by Nigeria (29.15%) and Afghanistan (32.71%)

Not always a good thing

“Looking at the voter turnout statistics, it is worth remembering that high turnout does not always mean high social engagement and trust in the local government,” Picodi said.

“Some countries, such as Luxembourg, Belgium, Bolivia and Uruguay, introduced compulsory voting law, according to which sanctions such as a financial penalty can be imposed on citizens who fail to participate in the elections.”

“Some governments may also abuse their power to manipulate the elections, including the voter turnout.”

It should also be noted that South Africa’s voter turnout has been nosediving over recent years:

• parliamentary elections 2019 – 66.05%
• parliamentary elections 2014 – 73.48%
• parliamentary elections 2009 – 77.30%

With widespread social issues and antipathy to many of the political parties in South Africa, it will be interesting to see if this trend continues in next year’s election, where coalition governments are looking increasingly likely as the ANC is predicted to lose its majority.

The voter turnout statistic from Picodi can be found below:

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