How many people participate in PB?

In the experiences of individual, direct participation, the rates of participation normally range between 1 per cent and 15 per cent of the voting population (in general over 16 years old). Cases with more than 15 per cent participation are exceptional. Generally, participation is greater in cities of smaller size or when the assemblies are ma-participants is highly variable from one year to the next. In addition, there is a high degree of turnover, and it is not the same people participating each year. During the first few years, participation may be low, and as the process is refined, this number tends to increase. Initially in Porto Alegre, which had over 1.2 million inhabitants at the outset of the process, only around 1,000 people participated, a number which is today close to 40,000.  In cities where participation happens through representatives of social organizations, the number of participants is inferior to and sometimes equal to the aforementioned cases. Thus, in Cotacachi, "788 people participated, representing 90 per cent of the organizations in the Canton"…in Ilo, 100 organizations participated….in Puerto Asís, 232 "very representative" people participated. In Cuenca, the 1,100 participants are, on one hand, the elected representatives of the 21parish boards and, on the other, people from the community.  The Participatory Budgets of Children and Youth reach higher numbers of participants because they are carried out at the public school level (and in rare cases private ones). The plenary sessions with free (non-obligatory) participation may take place outside of the school grounds. Nevertheless, educating and mobilising the youth about the PB mainly takes place at school. The result is that thousands or tens of thousands of young people participate and define the destination of part of the municipal budget.