Voter turnout facts

A total of 18.4 million Canadians cast a ballot in the 43rd general election, compared to 17.7 million in the 2015 general election.

Canadians continued to increasingly take advantage of early voting services: more than 4.9 million electors voted at advance polls, an increase of 33% from the 2015 general election.

Participation by age group

A slightly higher proportion of eligible Canadians voted in the 43rd general election (67.0%) compared to the 2015 general election (66.1%).

In 2019, the highest increase in turnout was among electors between the ages of 35 and 44, up 2.7%, to 64. 6% from 61.9% in 2015. Electors aged 65 to 74 had the highest participation rate, with 79.1% casting a ballot in 2019, up from 78.8% in 2015.

While overall turnout was up, participation among electors aged 18 to 24 was down by 3.2%, from a record 57.1% in 2015 to 53.9%.

Details on voter turnout by sex and age, both nationally and across each province and territory, are available on elections.ca.

Electors who live on reserves

Indigenous electors include First Nations, Métis and Inuit electors, aged 18 and older who live on and off reserve. They each have their own history and experience with voting in federal elections.

As demographic information is not captured at the polls, Elections Canada does not have complete data on the turnout of Indigenous electors. However, in 2004 Elections Canada began calculating turnout at polling places primarily dedicated to on-reserve voters.

In the 43rd general election, voter turnout for registered electors living on reserves was 51.8%, compared to 61.5% in 2015. This turnout was significantly lower than that of the general population (67.0%), for a total difference of 15.2 percentage points. By contrast, the smallest gap in voter participation between the two groups was observed in the 42nd general election (61.5% on reserves compared to 66.0% for the general population).

See the On-Reserve Voter Turnout infographic on elections.ca for more details and statistics.

Looking back

Voter turnout rates based on the number of registered electors vary over time owing to changes in elector participation. They may also vary as a result of changes to coverage of the list of electors. Although turnout based on registered electors may have some limitations, it can be calculated for a longer period.

• The highest voter turnouts, based on the number of registered electors, were in 1958, 1962 and 1963, when voter turnout was over 79%.
• The lowest voter turnout on record was in 2008, when voter turnout fell to only 58.8%.
• Voter turnout rose sharply in the 2015 federal election to 68.3%, the highest turnout since 1993.

Read more about voter turnout and changes over the last 100 years in A History of the Vote in Canada.