The 36% turnout figure is completely wrong. It was extrapolated from turnout at the last general election. Post-referendum research showed that turnout in the 18-24 age group was 64%, against an overall turnout of 72%. Increased turnout among young voters would not have been sufficient to change the result, due to the top-heavy age demographics in the UK - young people are simply outnumbered.

In my opinion, the Brexit vote reflects a fundamental political division in the UK and much of the developed world. Older Britons have, in a profound an systematic way, pulled the ladder up behind them. A multitude of factors have skewed society in favour of the old, from housing costs to student fees to ironclad pensions.

Pensioners have the lowest rate of poverty of any age group and are nearly half as likely to be poor than children. Pensions continue to grow above inflation, while wages have barely recovered since the financial crisis. Rampant growth in house prices coupled with a chronic shortage of social housing have effected an unprecedented transfer of wealth from young to old. On the balance of evidence, the term "kleptogerontocracy" does not seem entirely unjustified.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/eu-referendum-...

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populati...

http://www.poverty.org.uk/04/index.shtml

http://www.if.org.uk/archives/category/research