Which country held a referendum on leaving the European Union in 2016?

The United Kingdom held a referendum on leaving the European Union in 2016.

The vote took place on 23 June 2016, after Prime Minister David Cameron’s government passed the European Union Referendum Act 2015. Voters were asked whether the UK should remain a member of the EU or leave. The campaign became widely known as the Brexit referendum.

Leave won with 51.9% of the vote, compared with 48.1% for Remain. England and Wales generally voted Leave, while Scotland, Northern Ireland, Greater London, and Gibraltar voted Remain. The result led Cameron to resign and began the political process that eventually took the UK out of the EU.

This was not the UK’s first vote on European membership: a 1975 referendum had supported staying in the European Communities. A common mix-up is calling the 2016 vote an election; it was a referendum, meaning voters answered a specific policy question rather than choosing representatives. The UK formally left the EU on 31 January 2020.