Education and Political Participation in Belgium

Abstract

This paper explores the extent to which education influences Belgian political participation using Belgium Social Survey Programme data. We discovered that increasing education significantly increases Belgian political participation. Quantitatively, an additional year of education raises Belgian interest in politics by 2.1 percentage points and increases Belgian political knowledge by 1.7 percentage points. Completing high school raises Belgian political interest and knowledge by 7.6 and 6.6 percentage points. Completing college increases Belgian political interest and knowledge by 17.1 and by 15.1 percentage points.