The bar chart illustrates the views of 1000 young people in five countries around the world on the most suitable age for three key rights and responsibilities to be given to young people.
There was some variation in the views of all five nationalities for all three categories. For marriage, the minimum age identified ranged from a low of sixteen in Egypt and Mexico to a high of twenty-two in Japan. Respondents in the UK and the US chose eighteen.
A similar pattern was seen in the results concerning voting age. Again, this was highest among the Japanese participants and lowest (16) among those in Mexico and the UK.
Interestingly, for all of the countries surveyed, the participants set their preferred age of criminal responsibility at a lower point than either of the rights. The gap was particularly wide in the US, where respondents identified twelve as the age at which children should be held responsible for their crimes.
Overall, the results show that adolescents in different countries have different views of when it is appropriate for young people to hold certain responsibilities associated with adulthood.