minimum age
Youngest allowed in
Minimum age is the youngest someone can legally be to do something—work, drive, drink, vote, marry, or consent to sex.
Laws set minimum ages to protect young people from exploitation or harm, or to ensure maturity for certain responsibilities: The minimum age for purchasing alcohol is 21 in the United States.
Requirements vary by jurisdiction and activity.
- cognitive developmentAcquiring reasoning abilities over time
- rite of passageTransition-marking ceremony
- adolescenceTeenage developmental stage
- emotional maturityAbility to manage feelings well
- moral accountabilityObligation to answer for conduct
adult · parental consent · decision-making capacity · ID · curfew · eighteen · twenty-one · juvenile · child labor · work permit · school enrollment · criminal responsibility · birthday · entry · threshold · limit · cutoff · legal
- age limitslearner permit, legal capacity, eighteen, sixteen, twenty-one
- employment agemandatory retirement, child labor, youth employment, teen workers, work permits
- maritime laborseafarers, seamen, merchant mariners, working hours, working conditions
- membership requirementsresidency, citizenship, fee, dues, application
- marriage barriersbigamy, prior marriage, lack of consent, duress, underage
- eligibilityeligible, ineligible, eligibility, eligibility criteria, qualified
age threshold direction
minimum agemaximum age
Highest years permitted
age limit · aging out · upper bound · too old · overage