Editing Voting age (section)

==History==
In 1890, the [[South African Republic]], commonly known as the Transvaal Republic, set a voting age of 18 years.<ref>
{{cite book
| editor1-last = Eybers
| editor1-first = G. W.
| title = Select constitutional documents illustrating South African history, 1795-1910
| url = https://archive.org/details/selectconstitut01eybegoog
| location = London
| publisher = Routledge
| date = 1918
| page = 495| quote = Wet No. 5, 1890 [...] Om kiezer te zijn, moet men den ouderdom van 16 jaren bereikt hebben. [Law No. 5, 1890 ... In order to be a voter one must have reached the age of 16 years.]
}}
</ref> The effort was, like later legislation expanding voting rights [[Women's Enfranchisement Act, 1930|for women]] and [[Franchise Laws Amendment Act, 1931|impoverished whites]], in part an attempt to skew the electorate further in favor of [[Afrikaner]] interests against [[uitlanders]].

Prior to the [[Second World War]] of 1939–1945, the voting age in almost all countries was 21 years or higher. In [[1946 Czechoslovak parliamentary election|1946 Czechoslovakia]] became the first state to reduce the voting age to 18 years,<ref name="DN">{{cite book |last1=Nohlen |first1=Dieter |title=Elections in Europe: A data handbook |last2=Stöver |first2=Philip |date=2010 |isbn=978-3-8329-5609-7 |pages=464|publisher=Nomos}}</ref> and by 1968 a total of 17 countries had lowered their voting age, of which 8 were in Latin America, and 8 were communist countries.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Archives of Maryland, Volume 0138, Page 0051 - Constitutional Revision Study Documents of the Constitutional Convention Commission, 1968 |url=https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc2900/sc2908/000001/000138/html/am138--51.html |access-date=2023-01-03 |website=msa.maryland.gov}}</ref>

Australia, Japan, Sweden and Switzerland had lowered their voting age to 20 by the end of the 1960s.<ref name=":7" /> 

Many major democratic countries, beginning in Western Europe and North America, reduced their voting ages to 18 years during the 1970s, starting with the United Kingdom ([[Representation of the People Act 1969]]),<ref name=":7">{{Cite journal |last1=Loughran |first1=Thomas |last2=Mycock |first2=Andrew |last3=Tonge |first3=Jonathan |date=2021-04-03 |title=A coming of age: how and why the UK became the first democracy to allow votes for 18-year-olds |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13619462.2021.1890589 |journal=Contemporary British History |language=en |volume=35 |issue=2 |pages=284–313 |doi=10.1080/13619462.2021.1890589 |s2cid=233956982 |issn=1361-9462|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Bingham |first=Adrian |date=25 June 2019 |title='The last milestone' on the journey to full adult suffrage? 50 years of debates about the voting age |url=https://www.historyandpolicy.org/index.php/policy-papers/papers/the-last-milestone-on-the-journey-to-full-adult-suffrage |access-date=2022-12-31 |website=History & Policy}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite web |last1=Loughran |first1=Thomas |last2=Mycock |first2=Andrew |last3=Tonge |first3=Jonathan |date=2021-11-03 |title=Lowering the voting age: three lessons from the 1969 Representation of the People's Act |url=https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/lessons-from-the-1969-representation-of-the-peoples-act/ |access-date=2022-12-31 |website=British Politics and Policy at LSE}}</ref> Canada, [[West Germany]] (1970), the United States ([[Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution|26th Amendment]], 1971), Australia (1974), France (1974), Sweden (1975) and others. It was argued that if young men could be drafted to go to war at 18, they should be able to vote at the age of 18.<ref>{{cite book|last= Sanders|first= Mark|title= Your Right To Vote|date= 2000|publisher= Raintree Steck- Vaugh company|location= United States}}</ref> 

In the late 20th and early 21st centuries voting ages were lowered to 18 in Japan,<ref>[https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/07/08/national/politics-diplomacy/young-voters-hope-reform-japans-silver-democracy/ Young voters hope to reform Japan's 'silver democracy']. ''The Japan Times''. Published 8 July 2016. Retrieved 7 November 2018.</ref> India, Switzerland, Austria, the Maldives, and Morocco. By the end of the 20th century, 18 had become by far the most common voting age. However, a few countries maintain a voting age of 20 years or higher, and a few countries have a lower voting age of 16 or 17.<ref>{{cite web |title=Comparative data |url=http://aceproject.org/epic-en/CDTable?view=country&question=VR001 |website=ACE - The Electoral Knowledge Network |access-date=5 August 2019}}</ref>

=== Current ===
The vast majority of countries and territories have a minimum voting age of 18-years-old as of October 2020.<ref name="Pew Research">{{cite web |url= https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/10/30/from-voter-registration-to-mail-in-ballots-how-do-countries-around-the-world-run-their-elections/ |title= From voter registration to mail-in ballots, how do countries around the world run their elections? |last1= Schumacher |first1= Shannon |last2= Connaughton |first2= Aidan |date= 30 October 2020 |website= Pew Research Center |access-date= 14 February 2023}}</ref> According to data from the ACE Electoral Knowledge Network, 205 countries and territories have a minimum voting age of 18 for national elections out of 237 countries and territories the organization has data on as of October 2020.<ref name="Pew Research"/> As of the aforementioned date, 12 countries or territories have a minimum voting age of less than 18, with 3 countries or territories at 17-years-old, and 9 countries or territories at 16-years-old.<ref name="Pew Research"/> 16-years-old is the lowest minimum age globally for national elections, while the highest is 25-years-old which is only the case in the [[United Arab Emirates]] (UAE).<ref name="Pew Research"/> This age of 25 was also the case in Italy for Senate ([[upper house]]) elections until it was lowered to 18 in 2021.<ref name="Italy">{{Cite web|title=Voto a 18 anni al Senato, tappa di una lunga marcia verso un bicameralismo senza senso|url=https://www.ilsole24ore.com/art/voto-18-anni-senato-tappa-una-lunga-marcia-un-bicameralismo-senza-senso-AEhTtEY|access-date=2021-09-13|website=Il Sole 24 ORE|date=21 July 2021|language=it}}</ref> Italy's [[lower house]] of Parliament, the Chamber of Deputies, has had a minimum voting age of 18 since 1975, when it was lowered from 21.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.nytimes.com/1975/03/09/archives/voting-age-is-lowered-in-italy-to-18-from-21.html |title= Voting Age Is Lowered In Italy to 18 From 21 |date= 9 March 1975 |website= The New York Times |access-date= 14 February 2023}}</ref>