This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
This article needs editing to comply with Wikipedia's Manual of Style. In particular, it has problems with missing semantical and accessible elements (such as description lists or quotes/blockquotes) and using pseudo-headings inappropriately. Please help improve the content.(October 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
This article may be too long to read and navigate comfortably. Consider splitting content into sub-articles, condensing it, or adding subheadings. Please discuss this issue on the article's talk page.(December 2023)
(Learn how and when to remove this message)
The ages of consent vary by jurisdiction across Europe. The ages of consent – hereby meaning the age from which one is deemed able to consent to having sex with anyone else of consenting age or above – are between 14 and 18. The vast majority of countries set their ages in the range of 14 to 16; only four countries, Cyprus (17), Ireland (17), Turkey (18), and the Vatican City (18), set an age of consent higher than 16.
The highlighted age is that from which a young person can lawfully engage in a non-commercial sexual act with an older person, regardless of their age difference. If a participant in a sexual act is under 18 but above the age of consent then sexual acts with another person who is at or over the age of consent may still be illegal if the older participant is in a position of authority over the younger person. For example, a teacher and their student or someone in the police. Commercial sex/prostitution requires all those involved to be 18 or older. Sexual acts may not be legal if those engaging are blood relatives, regardless of age, though the legality of incest varies between European countries.
Some countries have close-in-age exceptions, allowing partners close in age of whom one or both may be below the standard unrestricted age of consent to be able to both legally consent to engage in sexual acts with each other. The lowest minimum age of consent for a close-in-age exception to apply in Europe is 12, providing their older sexual partner is under 18.[1]
All jurisdictions in Europe per List of sovereign states and dependent territories in Europe:
^Cite error: The named reference jogtar was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
and 24 Related for: Ages of consent in Europe information
The agesofconsent for sexual activity vary from age 15 to 18 across Australia, New Zealand and other parts of Oceania. The specific activity and the...
portal Adolescent sexuality in the United Kingdom Ageofconsent reform in Canada AgesofconsentinEurope Constitutional reform in the United Kingdom French...
The prostitution ageofconsent is the minimum age at which a person may legally engage in prostitution. Where this is not specified in the individual county's...
between the agesof 25 and 60 while for women it is between ages 20 and 50. Women who were Vestal Virgins were selected between the agesof 6 and 10 to...
imprisonment in a youth detention center. Ageof majority should not be confused with the ageof maturity, ageof sexual consent, ageof criminal responsibility...
In the history ofEurope, the Middle Ages or medieval period (also spelt mediaeval or mediæval) lasted approximately from 500 AD to 1500, although some...
some of the rights of emancipation, particularly health consent and privacy in US states unless the minor is younger than the absolute minimum ageof emancipation...
made between teenagers (i.e. those between the agesof 13 and 19) and young adults (those between the agesof 20 and 24). While seeking to impose some uniformity...
mental age, or under the legal ageof sexual consent may willingly engage in a sexual act that still fails to meet the legal threshold for consent as defined...
person in loco parentis can give consent for children. For children in care, the local authority usually has full parental rights and the director of social...
knowledge of road rules before being issued with a licence, provided he or she is above the minimum driving age. Countries with the lowest driving ages (17...
may be married when they are under the ageof sexual consent, which varies from 16 to 18 depending on the state. In some states, minors cannot legally divorce...
states complied and implemented an MLDA of 21 years by 1988. Most countries inEurope have set 18 as the minimum age to purchase alcohol. Although Austria...
20 by the end of the 1960s. Many major democratic countries, beginning in Western Europe and North America, reduced their voting ages to 18 years during...