The United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union in the Brexit referendum that took place on June 23, 2016. Overall, 51.9 percent of people voted to leave the European Union, compared with 48.1 percent of people who opted to remain. Of the 33.57 million people who voted in the referendum, 17.4 million voted to leave and 16.1 million voted to remain. This represented quite a high turnout of 72.2 percent, the highest voter turnout in a UK-wide election since the 1992 General Election. Does the UK regret Brexit in 2025? As the UK approaches the ninth anniversary of the Brexit vote in 2025, the vote to leave the EU is gradually becoming less popular. A growing majority of British voters have consistently said they think it was the wrong decision since July 2022. Despite this, British voters are still divided on exactly what type of future relationship they want with the EU, with a survey in late 2023 indicating that although rejoining the EU was the most popular option, it was supported by less than a third of voters. The declining popularity of Brexit since then likely reflects the political and economic instability since the referendum. Brexit reveals a deeply divided country Except for London, all regions of England, as well as the country of Wales, voted for Brexit. The leave vote was strongest in the West Midlands at over 59 percent, followed by the East Midlands at 58.8 percent. Scotland and Northern Ireland both voted to remain in the EU at 62 percent and 55.8 percent, respectively. Many of England’s largest cities such as Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds and Newcastle had Remain majorities. Younger voters were also more likely to have voted Remain than older ones. Almost three quarters of 18 to 24 year-old's voted to stay in the EU, compared with just 40 percent of those aged 65 and over.

In the Brexit referendum that took place in the United Kingdom on June 23, 2016, approximately 55 percent of men voted to leave the European Union, compared with 49 percent of women. The referendum itself was won by the leave side, after they won 51.9 percent of the vote in total. Overall, 33.56 million people voted in the referendum, of which 17.4 million people voted to Leave, and 16.1 million to Remain, a difference of around 1.27 million votes. Is support for Brexit falling in 2025? Recent surveys on Brexit suggest that an increasing number of Britons regret Brexit. The share of people of who think that Brexit was the wrong decision has increased from 43 percent in April 2021 to 55 percent as of January 2025, while support for leaving the EU fell from 46 percent to 30 percent. At the same time, evidence suggests that other issues have become much more of a priority for voters. In early 2025, the UK leaving the EU was behind several other major issues in the UK, such as the economy, the NHS, and immigration. Furthermore, people in the UK are still divided over what exact relationship they would like with the EU, with only 31 percent committed to full membership as of late 2023. Younger voters backed Remain According to exit polls on the day of the referendum, almost three quarters of British people aged between 18 and 24 voted to remain in the European Union. By contrast, leave was backed by a majority of people who were over the age of 45, with those aged over 65 the most likely age group to vote to leave. Among those aged 18 to 24 in 2025, who were too young to vote in the actual referendum, just ten percent thought leaving the EU was the right decision, compared with 17 percent of 25 to 49-year-olds, 38 percent of 50 to 64-year-olds, and 55 percent of those aged 65 or over.

In the Brexit referendum of 2016, 73 percent of people aged between 18 and 24 voted to Remain in the European Union, compared with just 40 percent of people aged over 65. In fact, the propensity to have voted Leave increases with age, with the three oldest age groups here voting leave and the three youngest voting to Remain. Overall, 17.4 million people voted to Leave the European Union in 2016, compared with 16.1 million who voted Remain, or 51.9 percent of the vote to 48.1 percent.

In the Brexit referendum of 2016, 53 percent of white adults voted to leave the European Union, compared with 73 percent of black adults. Remain won the highest share of votes in every ethnic group, with the exception of people who identified as being white.

In the Brexit referendum of 2016, almost three quarters of people who lived in Edinburgh voted to remain in the European Union. Several other major cities also had a majority of remain voters, including the English cities of London, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle and Leeds. In the UK’s second-largest city, Birmingham, a slight majority of people voted to leave the European Union. Across the whole of the United Kingdom, the leave side was victorious after winning the votes of 17.4 million people. Perceptions on Brexit in 2025 Since the UK left the EU in 2020, the share of people who regret Brexit has been steadily increasing. As of January 2025, 55 percent of people in Great Britain thought that Brexit was the wrong decision, compared with 30 percent who still supported the decision. Furthermore, a survey from the same month suggested that people thought Brexit had reaped few benefits. Approximately 67 percent of those surveyed thought that it had negatively impacted the cost of living, and 65 percent believing it had diminished the UK economy as a whole. By contrast, the main positive impact of Brexit was seen as the UK's control over its own laws. Demographics of Brexit voters Although several major English cities supported the UK remaining in the EU, every English region, with the exception of Greater London, voted for Brexit. While Wales also supported leave, both Scotland and Northern Ireland had a majority who supported remain. There were also noticeable divisions across age groups, with younger voters typically more likely to vote against Brexit, compared with older ones who supported it. Almost three-quarter of 18 to 24-year-olds voted Remain, compared with 60 percent of those aged 65 or over who backed Leave.

In the Brexit referendum of 2016 the United Kingdom voted to leave by 52 percent to 48 percent, although two of the UK's four countries voted to remain. This was most pronounced in Scotland where 62 percent of Scottish people voted to remain, while in Northern Ireland remain won 56 percent of the votes. The leave vote won in both England and Wales at 53 and 52.5 percent of votes respectively.

The graph shows the voting intention of a sample of British voters when asked about their opinion on whether or not the United Kingdom (UK) should exit the EU. The results are split by age group. On the day of the referendum, 66% of people between the ages of 18 and 24 wanted the UK to remain as a member of the European Union.

As of January 2025, 55 percent of people in Great Britain thought that it was wrong to leave the European Union, compared with 30 percent who thought it was the right decision. During this time period, the share of people who regret Brexit has been slightly higher than those who support it, except for some polls in Spring 2021, which showed higher levels of support for Brexit. The share of people who don’t know whether Brexit was the right or wrong decision has generally been stable and usually ranged between 11 and 14 percent. Is Bregret setting in? Since late July 2022, the share of people who regret Brexit in these surveys has consistently been above 50 percent. Additionally, a survey from January 2025 highlighted that most people in the UK thought that Brexit had had a mainly negative impact, especially on the cost of living and the economy. Despite there being a clear majority of voters who now regret Brexit, there is as yet no particular future relationship with the EU that has overwhelming support. As of late 2023, 31 percent of Britons wanted to rejoin the EU, while 30 percent merely wanted to improve trade relations and not rejoin either the EU or the single market. Leave victory in 2016 defied the polls In the actual referendum, which took place on June 23, 2016, Leave won 51.9 percent of the votes and Remain 48.1 percent, after several polls in the run-up to the referendum put Remain slightly ahead. Remain were anticipated to win until early results from North East England suggested that Leave had performed far better than expected, with this pattern replicated throughout the country. This event was repeated somewhat in the U.S. election of that year, which saw Donald Trump win several key swing states such as Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, despite predictions that these states would vote for Hillary Clinton.

A majority of voters for UKIP, the Conservatives and Plaid Cymru advised that they voted to leave the European Union in the Brexit referendum of 2016. The Green Party and the Liberal Democrats had the highest share of people who voted to remain in the EU, at 75 percent and 70 percent respectively.

This graph shows the voting intention of the British public from January to June 2016 for the forthcoming referendum on EU membership. Over the first three surveys detailed here, 'leave' was the most common response, from February 25 until April 6th the "remain" opinion has become prominent. As of May 24th the remain vote stabilized at 41 percent, before rising to 42 percent on June 10th, at this time the leave vote began to take prominence although as of June 19 there was a two point lead for the leave vote. On the day before the EU referendum both parties were tied at 45 percent.

This statistic displays the number of citizens who were entitled to cast a vote during the EU referendum in the United Kingdom (UK) from June 23rd 2016, by region. The South East of England had approximately 6.5 million eligible voters. At almost 5.4 million people, London was the region with the second greatest number of eligible voters. Northern Ireland had the fewest, with just over 1.26 million eligible voters.

In the Brexit referendum that took place on June 23, 206, approximately 74 percent of people with a degree voted to Remain in the European Union, compared with 26 percent who voted to Leave. Among those with no qualifications, 65 percent voted to Leave, and 35 percent to Remain.

In 1975, the United Kingdom overwhelmingly voted to stay in the European Economic Community (EEC) the forerunner organization to the European Union, by 67.2 percent to 32.8 percent, just two years after it had officially joined. Forty-six years later, the UK voted to leave the European Union in the Brexit referendum of 2016, with 51.6 percent of voters voting to leave.

In the Brexit referendum that took place on June 23, 206, approximately 57 percent of people in upper middle-class professions voted to Remain compared with 43 percent who voted to Leave. Among those in lower-working class professions, 64 percent voted to leave, and 36 percent to Remain.

This statistic shows the British public's opinion concerning a second EU referendum, the results are sorted by the respondents' voting choice on June 23, 2016. During the survey period it was found that 91 percent of respondents who voted for the "Brexit" state that the United Kingdom (UK) should not have another referendum, 29 percent of respondents who voted for the UK to remain in the European Union also agree that there shouldn't be another referendum.

This statistic shows the reasons why leave balloters voted for the United Kingdom (UK) to leave the European Union. Almost one quarter of respondents stated that their main reason for voting leave was in order to control immigration levels.

People in the United Kingdom who worked in the engineering industry were the most likely to be in favor of the the UK leaving the European Union, according to a survey conducted among UK adults in 2019. By contrast, over three quarters of people who said they worked in design wanted the UK to stay in the EU.

This graph shows the voting intention of respondents who intended to vote in the EU referendum in the United Kingdom in June 2016, the results are sorted by gender and social grade. Men in the highest brackets are the most likely to vote “remain”. There is a higher percentage of men in brackets C2, D and E who were stated that they would not vote. Women in A, B and C1 brackets had the highest share of respondents that had an undecided voting intention in the United Kingdom's EU referendum

This statistic displays the levels of regret amidst voters who backed the Remain Campaign during the run-up to the EU referendum in the United Kingdom on June 23rd, 2016. The data shows that in the weeks following the result of the EU referendum, 4.4 percent of pro-EU voters would now vote differently.

This statistic displays the number of successfully submitted votes in the EU referendum in the United Kingdom (UK) on June 23rd, 2016, the data is sorted by UK region and voting option. The South East of England had the greatest concentration of votes; collectively there were 4,959,683 valid votes. Over the entirety of the United Kingdom there was a total of 33,551,983 valid votes. Nine out of twelve regions within the UK voted in favor of a “Brexit.”