EMBARGOED UNTIL: 12:01 A.M. EDT, MAY 13, 1998 (WEDNESDAY) Public Information Office CB98-81 301-457-3030/301-457-3670 (fax) 301-457-4067 (TDD) e-mail: pio@census.gov Jennifer Day 301-457-2464 Voting-Age Population Projected to Pass 200 Million Mark, Census Bureau Says The number of U.S. residents old enough to vote in the November 1998 election will rise to 200.9 million, 4 million more than in November 1996, according to a report released today by the Commerce Department's Census Bureau. The embargoed tabulations can be accessed at http://www.census.gov/dcmd/www/ embargo/embargo.html. After the release time, a copy of the report, Projections of the Voting-Age Population, for States: November 1998, P25-1132, will be on the Internet at http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/voting.html. The Census Bureau projects that the voting-age population this year will be older than in 1996. The largest gains in any one segment of the population since 1996 will be in the 45- to 64-year-old age group (a 7 percent increase). This reflects the aging of the "Baby Boomer" generation, those born between 1946 and 1964. "Since 1990, about three-quarters of the growth in the voting age population has occurred in the 45- to 64-year-old age group," said Jennifer Day, the report's author. "By November 1998, this group is projected to include 58 million people or almost 3 in 10 of the voting age population." The size of the 65-and-over population, who usually have high rates of voter participation, is expected to remain nearly the same as in 1996, at 34 million. They will comprise 17 percent of the voting-age population, about a 1 percent increase since the last election. Although the voting-age population will be grayer, those who are 25-to-44 years old will still comprise the largest segment of the voting-age population (40 percent, or 83 million people). Meanwhile, the number of 18- to 24-year-olds is projected to increase to 25 million, or 13 percent of the voting-age population, reversing a decline that dates from 1981. Other highlights include: Women will represent 52 percent of the voting-age population, outnumbering men by 7 million. They will exceed men in all voting-age groups except for ages 18 to 24, where the number of men will be 689,000 greater than women. Women will outnumber men in every state except Alaska (47 percent women) and Nevada (49 percent women). Florida will be the only state with almost one fourth (23.9 percent) of its voting-age population age 65 and over. In fact, more than one-half (52 percent) of its voting-age population will be age 45 and older. Utah will have the youngest voter population; more than 1 in 5 people of voting age (22 percent) will be younger than 25 years old. The South is projected to have the greatest number of voting-age residents (71 million), making up 35 percent of the total electorate. The remainder is distributed almost evenly among the Midwest (23 percent), West (22 percent) and Northeast (19 percent). The West is projected to have the highest proportional increase in voting-age population since November 1996. In particular, the mountain states are expected to increase their voting-age population by more than 5 percent, led by Nevada (9 percent), Arizona (7 percent) and Utah (6 percent). Among the voting-age population, Whites will comprise 84 percent, African Americans 12 percent, and other races 5 percent. Hispanics, who may be of any race, are projected to constitute 10 percent of the voting-age population. Turnout by the voting-age population in non-presidential election years fell to a post-World War II low of 33 percent in 1990; turnout for the "off-year" election in November 1994 was 36 percent. Turnout for the 1996 presidential election was 46 percent. The Census Bureau's voting-age population figures include both people who are eligible to vote and those not eligible to vote, such as noncitizens, convicted felons and prison inmates. Americans living overseas, who may vote, are not included.-X-Editor's Note: The Public Information Office now has a media-access server for embargoed news releases and data sets. It is available to accredited media representatives only. To gain access, please contact us for a username and password. The media-access server's Internet address is http://www.census.gov/dcmd/www/embargo/embargo.html. We would appreciate any comments you may have about the site. The Census Bureau pre-eminent collector and provider of timely, relevant and quality data about the people and economy of the United States. In more than 100 surveys annually and 20 censuses a decade, evolving from the first census in 1790, the Census Bureau provides official information about America's people, businesses, industries and institutions.
