Fewer than half of Estonian youth vote — experts point to trust, not apathy
Only 46 percent of Estonians aged 18 to 24 voted in the last Riigikogu elections. Experts say the main causes are declining trust in political parties and politics feeling disconnected from young people's everyday lives.
In Estonia's 2023 Riigikogu elections, just 46 percent of young people aged 18 to 24 cast a ballot — less than half of that age group. Alar Kilp, a comparative politics lecturer at the University of Tartu, notes that voter turnout naturally rises with age, since people with property, higher incomes and school-age children have more at stake in political decisions than younger people do.
Kilp explains that young people place more value on forms of political participation that deliver visible, direct results, whereas electing representatives feels too abstract and removed from tangible outcomes.
A need for fresh faces
Henry Härm, president of the University of Tartu's Political Science Society, says young people respond better to politics when it's communicated by other young people, but notes there are too few young politicians, and those who exist often resemble one another too closely. Still, the popularity of certain young political figures shows demand exists for charismatic newcomers. Young Social Democrat Romet Soer believes politicians are increasingly paying attention to youth concerns.
Härm adds that social media has pushed young people to engage more with political issues, and politicians are adapting their communication to reach audiences up to around age 26-30, since traditional advertising like posters no longer resonates with younger voters.
Sandra Laur, a young Isamaa politician active on social media, argues that honest, plain-language communication works best with young audiences, criticizing politicians whose carefully polished positions become indistinguishable from one another behind bureaucratic language.
Trust and civic education
Although turnout rose from 35 percent in the previous elections, Helene Kristine Viita, head of the Estonian National Youth Council, says the core issue remains trust — whether young people believe their vote actually matters. Citing international research, she notes that young people's trust in political parties lags well behind their trust in scientists, the defense forces or police.
Laur and Soer both point to gaps in civic education in schools, arguing the problem lies less in curriculum content than in a shortage of engaging teachers and opportunities to practice political expression. In the most recent local elections, the number of young voters rose from about 12,000 to nearly 16,000, though overall turnout among youth remains below 50 percent.
