Guardian analysis shows the higher the median age in an area the higher the turnout – meaning larger numbers of older, leave voters got their way

Britain’s vote to leave the European Union has revealed a deep generational and social divide in the country, with younger, metropolitan and higher-educated voters appearing to strongly oppose Brexit.

However despite high national turnout, key areas analysed by the Guardian showed that turnout among young, remain voters appears not to reflect the historic significance of the vote. The median age in an area was the strongest predictor of turnout and showed a familiar pattern – the older the median age in an area, the more likely it was to have had a high turnout.

“Young people voted to remain by a considerable margin, but were outvoted,” the Liberal Democrat leader, Tim Farron, said. “They were voting for their future, yet it has been taken from them.” The TV presenter James Corden said: “I can’t get my head around what’s happening in Britain. I’m so sorry to the youth of Britain. I fear you’ve been let down today.”

In his victory speech at Vote Leave headquarters, Boris Johnson acknowledged the fears of many young voters, particularly over restrictions on freedom of movement. “I want to speak directly to the millions of people who did not vote for this outcome, especially young people, who may feel that this decision involves somehow pulling up the drawbridge, because I think the very opposite is true.

Meet the 75%: the young people who voted to remain in the EU Read more

“We cannot turn our backs on Europe, we are part of Europe, our children and our grandchildren will continue to have a wonderful future as Europeans. It is the essence of our case that young people in this country can look forward to a more secure and more prosperous future, if we take back the democratic control.”

Voter ages are not recorded, but in urban areas where the average age was 35 and under, electoral commission data showed overwhelming support for remaining in the EU. This was particularly marked in the London local authorities of Lambeth,, Hackney and Harringey, where the average age is between 31 and 33, and which all voted over 75% in favour of remaining in the EU.

Oxford and Cambridge, the councils with the highest percentage of 18- to 25-year-olds, were also remain strongholds, as was Tower Hamlets, which has the highest percentage of 21- to 30-year-olds. According to YouGov polling before the referendum result, 64% of under-25s said they wanted the UK to remain. With a life expectancy for that generation of 90, younger voters have approximately eight more decades to live compared with the voters who most favoured leaving, the over 65s.

Voters with university degrees overwhelmingly backed remain, which also signified the strength of support for the EU among the younger generation, where 40% of 21-year-olds have a university education, compared with 7% of 60-year-olds.

Michael Sani, from the youth voter movement Bite the Ballot, which registered hundreds of thousands in the run up to the poll, said he understood the feelings of helplessness and anger among the younger generation, but said turnout had been affected by the direction of both campaigns.

David Beard (@dabeard) "Those who must live with result of the EU Referendum the longest want to remain" #EUref pic.twitter.com/xR02Z711jS

“If no one inspires you, that is how you end up being marginalised, divided and fearing,” he said. “This generation are so passionate, they care so much about issues, but they are just not empowered to use the means of communication to get through to make real change. Both campaigns have been a disaster in terms of meaningful engagement on such complex issues.”

Sani said, however, that there were still opportunities to make the issues that the younger generation care about a priority during the Brexit negotiations.

“What people need to do now if they are angry is harness that feeling, these negotiations are still to come, and young people need to be at the table or they will end up being on the menu yet again.”

Dr James Slom, of the centre for European politics at Royal Holloway, University of London, said the division between younger and older voters was more decisive than country or socioeconomic divides.

“In efforts to bring out the youth vote, we were swimming against the tide,” he said.

Both sides had displayed “staggering indifference” to younger voters. “Given the decades-long trend towards low electoral turnout amongst young people, this was equally unsurprising and disturbing.”



Slom said the individual voter registration system was partly to blame for issues with turnout, with more than 1 million people falling off the register and the number of attainers, newly eligible voters, falling by 40%.

The timing, too, was “completely indifferent to the fact that it was to take place in the higher education summer vacation period”. Slom said interviews on campuses had borne out concerns that young people would be away or forget to re-register away from their term-time addresses.



A poll for the Times at the Glastonbury music festival found roughly 22% of young revellers there did not vote, 65% of whom saying they had intended to vote remain but had not arranged to do so in time, equating to about 15,000 votes.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Many 18- to 29-year-olds feel the older generations have robbed them of a future within the EU. Photograph: Amer Ghazzal/Rex/Shutterstock

Slom said the media had not accurately reflected the generational divide in its coverage of the youth vote, citing the BBC’s Question Time for 18- to 29-year-olds, in Glasgow, in late May. “The remain and leave guests were split 50-50; in other words, in aiming to give balance, the BBC presented a distorted view of this pro-remain generation.”

More than 200 young people, asked to comment on the result by the Guardian, emailed their thoughts within the first 30 minutes, many expressing distress at the skew of the vote, and fear for freedom of movement and their jobs.

A PhD student, Kirsten Dutton, 25, from Newcastle, said she was worried about science funding in the UK. “Scientists receive so little funding from the UK we are very dependent on EU sources and collaboration,” she said. “I won’t be surprised if over the coming years the UK’s output of original research falls because people, both European and British, choose to move and work elsewhere. I can’t imagine staying here where my work is not valued and every day is a fight to stay funded.”

If you’re young and angry about the EU referendum, you’re right to be | Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett Read more

Zainabb Hull, a 23-year-old graduate from London, said the vote meant “more anxiety for me, more instability to navigate and try to understand. I’m also a woman of colour. This result confirms my fears. That my families aren’t seen as people, as human. They’re not welcome here, and as a product of immigration, neither am I.”

In the first few hours after the leave vote was confirmed, there was explicit anger from 16- and-17-year-olds, who voted in the Scottish referendum but were denied a vote in the EU poll. The politics student Erin Minogue said she felt her future was completely transformed. “I couldn’t vote in what is probably the most important political decision the British people have made, an irreversible decision. My future is completely changed; I will not have the benefits my parents and their generation have had, such as freedom of movement between all EU countries.”

The 16-year-old school student Madeline Gomes said she was “utterly and completely disgusted with my country and what they have done to my future. But most of all, I’m scared. I’m terrified”.