People aged 71 were the most active voters in Finland’s European Parliament election, held in early June, Statistics Finland said on Thursday.
On the other hand, voting activity was particularly low among younger age groups. Men in their early 20s were least likely to vote, with just 17 percent casting ballots.
Turnout was higher among citizens with higher income and education levels, while people of foreign background had some of the lowest turnout rates.
Voting activity among individuals with master's or doctoral level education was some 30 percentage points higher than average, 43 percentage points higher than those with just basic level education.
Altogether, nearly 4.3 million living in Finland were eligible to vote in EP election. Of these, just over a quarter voted in advance, while around 57 percent cast ballots on election day, 9 June.
Highest turnout among Swedish speakers
The information is based on the electronic voting rights register, which does not cover all municipalities.
The final voter turnout was 42.4 percent, down slightly from the previous EP election in 2019.
In comparison, turnout for the presidential election earlier this year was 75 percent in the first round and almost 71 percent in the second round.
Slightly more than 40 percent of native Finnish and Sámi speakers voted. Swedish speakers had the highest voting turnout, over 50 percent. By contrast, voting turnout among citizens with other native languages was low, below 18 percent.
Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s National Coalition Party earned the most votes in Finland's European election, while the opposition Left Alliance, led by Li Andersson, saw the biggest rise in support.
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