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Sources: Yahoo! Finance; MarketWatch; djindexes.com; U.S. Treasury; London Bullion Market Association.
Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Indices are unmanaged and cannot be invested into directly. N/A means not applicable.
IT’S THE BIGGEST ELECTION YEAR IN HISTORY. This year almost 80 countries will hold elections in which all people of voting age will have the opportunity to cast a vote, reported NPR citing The Economist. While the nations are not all democratic countries, more than 40 are expected to hold free and fair elections, reported Astha Rajvanshi and Yasmeen Serhan of Time. These nations encompass about:
· 41 percent of the world’s population (more than 3 billion people), and
· 42 percent of the global economy (more than $44 trillion).
How many people will actually vote?
The voter turnout is likely to be higher in some countries than it is in others. Here is the average turnout among the voting-age population in a sampling of countries that will hold elections in 2024. (The data was collected from recent election years by Pew Research Center.)
Turkey: 89 percent
Indonesia: 82 percent
Sweden: 80 percent
Belgium: 78 percent
South Korea: 77 percent
Denmark: 76 percent
Brazil: 74 percent
Taiwan: 74 percent
India: 69 percent
Mexico: 66 percent
Austria: 64 percent
United States: 63 percent
Britain: 62 percent
Czech Republic: 62 percent
South Africa: 47 percent
The U.S. League of Women Voters explains the importance of voting like this, “The right to vote is one of the most basic promises of our democracy. In a democratic government, every person is considered equal and is empowered to both participate in their government and speak on the issues that impact their daily lives. Through our votes, we’re able to express our values around concerns like health care, climate change, criminal justice, taxes, and so much more.”
Weekly Focus – Think About It
“Indecision may or may not be my problem.”
—Jimmy Buffett, singer
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