Re: An interesting test...
It was, in fact, 51.89%1 of the eligible electorate2 who expressed a preference; or a full 37.44%3 of those eligible to vote. Not 52% of the country. In pure population terms, it was about 26.54%4, but some people were too young to vote in the referendum as they were under 18, and others ineligible because they were foreigners such as those with permanent leave to remain or EU nationals taking advantage of freedom of movement rules within the EU; and still more ineligible by virtue of the fact they were British, but had been absent (non-resident) from the UK for more than 15 years - possibly taking advantage of freedom of movement rules letting them live in another EU country5. The eligibility rules were complicated e.g. Irish citizens resident in the UK could vote, as could citizens of Malta and Cyprus, as those two countries are members of the Commonwealth, but other EU nationals could not.
(1) 17,410,742 - according to Wikipedia
(2) 46,500,001 - according to Wikipedia
(3) 17,410,742 x 100 / 46,500,001 = 37.44%
(4) The mid-year UK Population in 2016 according to the ONS was roughly 65.6 million (Time-series tabular form available here). 17,410,742 x 100 / 65,600,000 = 26.54%
(5)Wikipedia: Eligibility to Vote and Fullfact.org: Who can vote in the EU referendum?
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