Results of an Analysis on Voter Turnout in the 19th Presidential Election Made Public

= Nearly all age groups see a turnout of above 70% =

An analysis of 19th presidential election voter turnout carried out by the National Election Commission (NEC) of the Republic of Korea has revealed that there was a high turnout of over 70% in nearly every age group during the election. Turnout among people in their 60s and 70s was 84.1% and 81.8% respectively, and all other groups in their 50s or under recorded a turnout of over 70%.

This analysis was conducted using a sample of 4,364,417 out of a total of 42,432,413 registered voters based on the voters list (10.3% of all electors). The turnout rate recorded from among this sample group (76.8%) was 0.4% lower than the actual turnout rate (77.2%). 

A complete survey was conducted for early voting and the overseas voting.

The results of the analysis for the 19th presidential election of turnout by age group, sex, and region were as follows.

Voter Turnout by Age

The highest turnout was recorded by the 60s age group (84.1%) followed by those in their 70s (81.8%) and 50s (78.6%). Meanwhile the 20s age group showed a turnout of 76.1%, 30s 74.2% and those in their 40s recorded a 74.9% turnout.  

The turnout of 19-year-olds, who were exercising their right to vote for the first time, rose to 77.7%. When compared to the 18th presidential election, turnout among voters in their 20s or under (69.0% → 76.2%) and their 30s (70.0% → 74.2%) increased whilst turnout among those in their 40s (75.6% → 74.9%) and 50s (82.0% → 78.6%) slightly decreased.

When looking at the percentage of voters on the voters list and those that turned out to vote, those in their 40s (20.4% and 20.0%) and 50s (20.0% and 20.4%) were the highest compared to other age groups. 

Whilst those in their 40s or under made up a higher percentage of voters on the voters list when compared to the percentage of voters that turned out to vote, the opposite was true for those in the groups between 50 and 70. 

Voter Turnout by Gender

As in the 18th presidential election, turnout among women (77.3%) was higher than that of men (76.2%) in the 19th presidential election.

In contrast, turnout reached 74.8% for males and 76.4% for females during the last presidential election.

Voter Turnout by Gender and Age Group

When looking at the statistics by gender and age group, the highest turnout was among men in their 70s (86.1%). Meanwhile among men aged 25 to 29 (71.1%) and over 80 (70.8%) as well as women over 80 (49.5%) turnout was at the lowest levels.

Male voters showed a turnover rate of 71% from the late 20s to the late 30s, and women accounted for more than 77% of all age groups below the age of 70.

Voter Turnout by Gender and Region

When looking at the statistics by gender and region, the regions with the highest male turnout were Gwangju (80.6 percent), Sejong (80.4 percent) and Jeonbuk (78.9 percent), and the regions with the highest female turnout were Gwangju (82.3%), Sejong (79.6%) and Ulsan (79.4%).

Of all the regions, Daegu showed the largest difference in turnout by gender, a difference of 2.6% (75.8% male, 78.4% female turnout) whilst Busan, Incheon, Chungnam, Seoul and Gwangju showed a difference of around 2%.

Early Voting Turnout

Turnout for early voting during the 19th presidential election was 26.1%, with male turnout (29.0%) recording 5.8% higher than female turnout (23.2%).

By age group, early voter turnout was highest among 19 year olds (35.3%) and those in their 20s (35.7%), followed by those in their 30s (25.8%), 50s (25.7%), 60s (24.6% %) and finally in their 40s (23.8%).

The regions with the highest early voting turnout were Sejong (37.1% male, 31.9% female turnout), Jeonju (37.1% male, 31.0% female turnout), and Gwangju (36.8% male and 30.7% female turnout).

According to the size of the administrative district, Myeon districts had the highest early voting turnout at 27.9%, followed by small cities (26.2%), special cities (26.1%), Eup districts (25.5%) and metropolitan cities (25.4%).

Overseas Voting Turnout

In the 19th presidential election, overseas turnout reached 75.3% of those that registered for absentee and overseas voting, with women (75.9%) recording a marginally higher turnout than men (74.7%).

By age group, turnout was high amongst those in their early 20s (81.8%) and late 30s (80.2%) and showed a tendency to decrease significantly from the age of 50 and more.