Voter turnout in Canada
is the percentage of registered voters who cast a ballot in an election. The following presents voter turnout figures for Canada's general elections as compiled by Elections Canada.
- The average voter turnout for Canada's general elections since 1867 has been 70.5%
- The highest voter turnouts were in 1958, 1960, 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 in the 2011 federal election, at 61.4%, was the third lowest in Canadian history.
- Voter turnout rose sharply in the 2015 federal election to 68.5%, the highest turnout since 1993.
Voter turnout in Canada's general elections
Date of election | Population | Number of electors on list | Total ballots cast | Voter turnout |
1867-08-07 | 3,230,000 | 361,028 | 268,387 | 73.1% |
1872-07-20 | 3,689,000 | 426,974 | 318,329 | 70.3% |
1874-01-22 | 3,689,000 | 432,410 | 324,006 | 69.6% |
1878-09-17 | 3,689,000 | 715,279 | 534,029 | 69.1% |
1882-06-20 | 4,325,000 | 663,873 | 508,496 | 70.3% |
1887-02-22 | 4,325,000 | 948,222 | 724,517 | 70.1% |
1891-03-05 | 4,833,000 | 1,113,140 | 778,495 | 64.4% |
1896-06-23 | 4,833,000 | 1,358,328 | 912,992 | 62.9% |
1900-11-07 | 4,833,000 | 1,167,402 | 958,497 | 77.4% |
1904-11-03 | 5,371,000 | 1,385,440 | 1,036,878 | 71.6% |
1908-10-26 | 5,371,000 | 1,463,591 | 1,180,820 | 70.3% |
1911-09-21 | 7,204,527 | 1,820,742 | 1,314,953 | 70.2% |
1917-12-17 | 7,591,971 | 2,093,799 | 1,892,741 | 75.0% |
1921-12-06 | 8,760,211 | 4,435,310 | 3,139,306 | 67.7% |
1925-10-29 | 8,776,352 | 4,608,636 | 3,168,412 | 66.4% |
1926-09-14 | 8,887,952 | 4,665,381 | 3,273,062 | 67.7% |
1930-07-28 | 8,887,952 | 5,153,971 | 3,922,481 | 73.5% |
1935-10-14 | 10,367,063 | 5,918,207 | 4,452,675 | 74.2% |
1940-03-26 | 10,429,169 | 6,588,888 | 4,672,531 | 69.9% |
1945-06-11 | 11,494,627 | 6,952,445 | 5,305,193 | 75.3% |
1949-06-27 | 11,823,649 | 7,893,629 | 5,903,572 | 73.8% |
1953-08-10 | 14,003,704 | 8,401,691 | 5,701,963 | 67.5% |
1957-06-10 | 16,073,970 | 8,902,125 | 6,680,690 | 74.1% |
1958-03-31 | 16,073,970 | 9,131,200 | 7,357,139 | 79.4% |
1962-06-18 | 18,238,247 | 9,700,325 | 7,772,656 | 79.0% |
1963-04-08 | 18,238,247 | 9,910,757 | 7,958,636 | 79.2% |
1965-11-08 | 18,238,247 | 10,274,904 | 7,796,728 | 74.8% |
1968-06-25 | 20,014,880 | 10,860,888 | 8,217,916 | 75.7% |
1972-10-30 | 21,568,311 | 13,000,778 | 9,974,661 | 76.7% |
1974-07-08 | 21,568,311 | 13,620,353 | 9,671,002 | 71.0% |
1979-05-22 | 22,992,604 | 15,233,653 | 11,541,000 | 75.7% |
1980-02-18 | 22,992,604 | 15,890,416 | 11,015,514 | 69.3% |
1984-09-04 | 24,343,181 | 16,774,941 | 12,638,424 | 75.3% |
1988-11-21 | 25,309,331 | 17,639,001 | 13,281,191 | 75.3% |
1993-10-25 | 27,296,859 | 19,906,796 | 13,863,135 | 69.6% |
1997-06-02 | 27,296,859 | 19,663,478 | 13,174,698 | 67.0% |
2000-11-27 | 28,846,761 | 21,243,473 | 12,997,185 | 61.3% |
2004-06-28 | 30,007,094 | 22,466,621 | 13,683,570 | 60.9% |
2006-01-23 | 30,007,094 | 23,054,615 | 14,908,703 | 64.7% |
2008-10-14 | 31,612,897 | 23,677,639 | 13,929,093 | 58.8% |
2011-05-02 | 33,476,688 | 24,257,592 | 14,823,408 | 61.1% |
2015-10-19 | 35,749,600 | 25,638,379 | 17,559,353 | 68.5% |
2019-10-21 | N\A | 27,112,358 | 17,880,600 | 65.95% |