Glasgow and Scotland

Voter turnout is a useful measure of how involved local residents are in democracy and decision-making processes.

Voter turnout at Scottish Parliament elections, Glasgow and Scotland, 1999-2021

Voter turnout at elections for the Scottish Parliament over the period 1999-2021 has been consistently lower in Glasgow than in Scotland as a whole.

However, voter turnout rose across Scotland in 2016 and again in 2021. There has been a larger proportionate increase in voter turnout in Glasgow, resulting in the gap in turnout between Scotland and Glasgow narrowing.

Voter turnout at UK general elections, Glasgow and Scotland, 1997-2024

Voter turnout across the UK dropped sharply in 2001 compared to 1997, steadily recovered from 2001 to 2019, before dropping just below 60% in 2024. The UK and Scotland trends are relatively similar, with the notable exception of the 2015 General Election, in which voter turnout in Scotland rose to exceed that in the UK. Voter turnout in Glasgow was considerably lower than the UK and Scotland from 1997 to 2024.

Notes

The Electoral Commission's report on the 2024 election considered potential reasons for lower turnout across the UK, including issues with postal voting, attitudes towards the political system, and this being the first election for voters in Wales and Scotland where ID was required to vote (this had already been in place in England).

This page was last updated in November 2024.