According to the Federal Returning Officer, the European Parliament election in 2024 saw a significant increase in voter turnout across all age groups, with the largest increase of 6.6 percentage points recorded among the 35- to 39-year-olds.
A similar, albeit slightly smaller, increase was observed in the 25- to 34-year-old age group, with a rise of 6.4 percentage points. The 16- to 20-year-old age group, which was able to vote for the first time, showed a smaller, yet still notable, increase of 1.7 percentage points.
The data is based on a representative election statistic, which was conducted for the European Parliament election in 2024, as in the past. A random sample of 2,336 voting districts was selected, representing around 1.9 million eligible voters.
Despite the increase, the voter turnout of the younger age groups remained below the overall average. The lowest turnout was recorded among the 21- to 24-year-olds, at 57.7 percent, followed by the 16- to 20-year-olds, at 60.3 percent. The highest turnout was seen among the 60- to 69-year-olds, at 68.9 percent and the 50- to 59-year-olds, at 68.2 percent.
The generation of 60 years and above, comprising around 24.9 million people, made up over a third (40.2 percent) of all eligible voters and thus had a significant impact on the election results.
Women were more likely to vote than men in the same age group, with the exception of the 70-and-over age group, where men’s turnout was 68.5 percent, compared to 61.8 percent among women.
The SPD and the Union parties received the majority of their votes from the 60-plus age group, as shown in the statistics. The Greens, AfD and FDP, on the other hand, received the majority of their votes from the 45- to 59-year-olds.
The Left party, meanwhile, received the majority of its votes from the 16- to 34-year-olds, at 21 percent.
When looking at the vote shares within the respective age groups, the Union parties (CDU and CSU) were the strongest force across all age groups, followed by the AfD, which showed a decreasing gap with the Union parties as the age group increased. Among the 60-plus age group, the SPD was the second-strongest force.
There were no significant differences in the vote shares by gender, with the exception of the AfD, which received 20 percent of the vote from men, compared to 12 percent from women. The FDP, on the other hand, received a slightly higher percentage of its votes from men, while the Greens, SPD and Left parties received a slightly higher percentage of their votes from women.