Is Japan's age of consent still 13?
Tokyo, Oct. 24 (Jiji Press)--A Japanese government panel on Monday proposed raising the minimum age of sexual consent, stipulated under the criminal code, to 16 from the current 13.
All Member States establish a minimum age for sexual consent. Most Member States set this between 14 and 16 years. The lowest minimum age is 14 years, set in seven Member States: Austria, Bulgaria, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Italy and Portugal. The highest is set at 18 years – in Malta.
Instead, the age is derived from rape-related laws. The tradition dates back at least 800 years, when the Southern Song dynasty deemed intercourse with a child under 10 to be statutory rape. Put another way, China's age of consent does not reflect debate about when the young can be trusted to control their own bodies.
Burkina Faso, Comoros Islands, Niger, and Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic also have their age of consent as 13 years. In 32 other countries including Albania, Austria, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Eritrea, Italy, Germany, Hungary, Myanmar, Columbia, and Portugal the age consent is 14 years.
Consensual sexual relationships between a male and female outside marriage where both are over the age of 18 years, including extra-marital sexual relationships, is generally permitted under UAE law.
In each UK nation, the age at which people can legally consent to sexual activity (also known as the age of consent) is 16-years-old.
The decision to raise the age of consent to 16 in 1885, with higher penalties for offences against girls under the age of 13, resulted from the combination of a child protection agenda and a perceived need to control juvenile sexualities.
The concept of an 'age of sexual consent' exists in Russian criminal law, set at 16, but this regulates the right to sex in terms of the body's biological readiness, rather than in ethical terms. When investigating cases of rape, Russian law enforcement agencies define consent in terms of sex with coercion.
The de facto age of consent is generally considered to be 18 years or older. Middle East: Like parts of North Africa, most countries in the Middle East do not have a fixed age of consent, but require the couple to be married. These include Afghanistan, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.
What is the age of consent in Japan? The age of consent in Japan is 13. The Japanese Penal Code stipulates that the age of consent, i.e. the legal age at which an individual is considered to have the ability to agree to sexual activities is 13 years old as of 2022. Most countries set the age of consent at 14 to 16.
Is 16 a minor in China?
Article 2 of the [Protection of Minors] Act states: "A 'minor' is a citizen who has not attained 18 years of age." ... The General Rules of Civil Law are an important piece of legislation protecting citizens' civic rights and interests. ...
At 13, Japan's base age of consent is the lowest of any developed country. However, many prefectures also have local "corruption of minors" or "obscenity statutes" (淫行条例) which raise the de-facto age of consent to 16-18, unless they are in a "sincere romantic relationship", usually determined by parental consent.

13 is the age set by Japanese Penal Code. But why was the age of consent set at such an young age in Japan? The reason is because the law was made nearly 120 years ago and back in those days the average life expectancy of people in the country was less than 50.
Age of Consent: 18 years Pakistan Penal Code Child Abuse Amendment Act Art. 377A.
In the majority of states (34), it is 16 years of age. In the remaining states, the age of consent is either 17 or 18 years old (6 and 11 states, respectively). Note: Some states have marital exemptions. This Table assumes the two parties are not married to one another.
The Criminal Law Amendment Act of 2013 changed Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code to make the consent age for sexual activity 18 years old. This brought the law into compliance with clauses in every other statute that recognise children as people under the age of 18.
The legal age for consensual sex varies between 16 and 17 years across Australian state and territory jurisdictions (see Table 2). For other sexual activities, the criminal legislation relating to different types of sexual behaviours and interactions varies across Australian jurisdictions.
Age of Consent – 18 years Criminal Code Art. 269 Whoever indecently assaults a lad or lass not yet attaining eighteen complete years of age, without force or threat shall be punished with detention.
Sexual intercourse and other activities of a sexual nature with persons under 16 years of age are illegal under Articles 155 and 156 of the Criminal Code, punishable by deprivation of liberty for up to five years.
The age of consent in the UK is 16. This means that it's against the law for someone to have sex with someone under the age of 16. It wouldn't be illegal for someone who's 16 to have a relationship with someone who is 30 - unless that person is their teacher or in a position of authority.
What is the age of consent in Scotland?
The Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009 maintains the age of consent at 16 and provides that any sexual activity between an adult and a child and young person constitutes a criminal offence. Sexual intercourse and oral sex between children and young people under the age of 16 also remains unlawful.
It is a criminal offence for anyone who is 16 or older to have any kind of sexual contact with someone aged 13, 14 or 15. It is also a criminal offence for both girls and boys aged 13, 14 and 15 to have consensual sex with anyone else aged 13, 14 or 15.
The rise in the age of consent by South Korea was done as a result of the need to “strengthen the protection of minors, following accusations the existing law on sex crimes was too weak”, hence the country deliberated and decided to increase the age of consent to 20.
Since 1967, the UK's age of consent had been set at 21, even though for opposite-sex couples the age of consent was 16.
The ages of consent vary by jurisdiction across Europe. The ages of consent 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 Vatican City (18), do not fit into this pattern.