The largest election year in history
More than half the adults alive are eligible to vote in a national election in one year.
- When
- Known to
- ± 183 days
- Era
- Contemporary, Holocene
Around 1.6 billion people voted across some 70 national elections in 2024, in India, the United States, Indonesia, the European Union, Mexico, Britain and beyond. Incumbents lost vote share in almost every free election held — a pattern without precedent in the postwar record, generally attributed to the inflation of 2021-23. It was also the first election year in which generative AI was widely used in campaigning.