Wonder

Log in

Research Outline

Prepared for Jeffrey F. | Delivered July 30, 2019

Politically Active Adults - International

Goals

To obtain the total number of politically active adults in 1st world democratic countries (excluding the U.S.) who have voted one or more times and have engaged in an advocacy action one or more times for purposes of possible global expansion of a political advocacy platform.

Early Findings

Preliminary findings indicate that the number of people voting in developed democracies is readily available. The information on the number of people who have engaged in one or more advocacy action is more challenging to find.
  • According to Richard Bruce, an economics expert, there are 38 developed democracies with 1 million or more people.
  • Based on the Democracy Index, there are 20 full democracies and 55 flawed democracies in the world, not all of which are developed.
  • By cross-referencing the data in the Democracy Index and the developed democracy data provided by Richard Bruce, it can be determined that voting data from the 38 developed democracies would provide the information requested.

VOTERS

  • Using the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance database, the breakdown of people in developed democracies with 1 million or more people who have voted in at least one election since 2014 (excluding the United States) are as follows. Note that only numbers from the most recent election are included and, if there was more than one election in the past five years, the year with the most voters was selected.
    • Australia: 14,262,016 (2016 parliamentary election)
    • Austria: 5,120,881 (2017 parliamentary election)
    • Belgium: 7,218,633 (2019 parliamentary election)
    • Canada: 17,711,983 (2015 parliamentary election)
    • Chili: 6,700,748 (2017 presidential election)
    • Croatia: 1,979,277 (2016 parliamentary election)
    • Cyprus: 407,475 (2018 presidential election)
    • Czech Republic: 5,177,238 (2018 presidential election)
    • Denmark: 3,569,521 (2019 parliamentary election)
    • Estonia: 565,045 (2019 parliamentary election)
    • Finland: 3,099,760 (2019 parliamentary election)
    • France: 35,467,172 (2017 presidential election)
    • Germany: 46,976,341 (2017 parliamentary election)
    • Greece: 5,920,355 (2019 EU parliamentary election)
    • Hungary: 5,791,432 (2019 parliamentary election)
    • Ireland: 2,151,293 (2016 parliamentary election)
    • Israel: 4,261,683 (2019 parliamentary election)
    • Italy: 33,916,460 (2018 parliamentary election)
    • Japan: 53,334,447 (2014 parliamentary election)
    • Latvia: 844,925 (2018 parliamentary election)
    • Lithuania: 1,426,694 (2019 presidential election)
    • Netherlands: 10,563,456 (2017 parliamentary election)
    • New Zealand: 2,630,173 (2017 parliamentary election)
    • Norway: 2,945,352 (2017 parliamentary election)
    • Panama: 1,950,103 (2019 parliamentary election)
    • Poland: 16,993,169 (2015 presidential election)
    • Portugal: 5,408,092 (2015 parliamentary election)
    • Slovakia: 2,648,184 (2016 parliamentary election)
    • Slovenia: 901,512 (2018 parliamentary election)
    • South Korea: 32,807,908 (2017 presidential election)
    • Spain: 26,478,140 (2019 parliamentary election)
    • Sweden: 6,535,271 (2018 parliamentary election)
    • Switzerland: 2,563,052 (2015 parliamentary election)
    • Taiwan: 12,448,302 (2016 presidential election)
    • Trinidad and Tobago: 734,792 (2015 parliamentary election)
    • United Kingdom: 32,278,330 (2017 parliamentary election)
    • Uruguay: 2,348,833 (2014 parliamentary election)
  • Total adults who have voted in at least one election since 2014: 416,138,048

ADVOCACY ACTION

  • In Poland, 48% of people would take political action for poor healthcare, 42% for freedom of speech, and 42% for police misconduct.
  • In Israel, 56% of people would take political action for poor healthcare, 55% for poverty, and 51% for poor-quality schools.
  • In Italy, 46% of people would take political action for poor healthcare, 41% for freedom of speech, and 40% for poverty.
  • In Hungary, 35% of people would take political action for poor healthcare, 27% for poverty, and 26% for poor-quality schools.
  • Using these statistics, it may be possible to triangulate the number of people who have likely taken an advocacy action in the past few years. For example, 4,261,683 voted in Israel in 2019. Assuming that 56% of people who said they would take political action for poor healthcare actually did take action, and assuming that only people who vote are taking advocacy action, this would mean that 2,386,542 people took some sort of advocacy action in Israel in 2019.
  • This is not a perfect one-for-one estimate, but it may be the only data available based on early searches.