A historic milestone for Italian politics finds its roots in today’s date, 49 years ago. The law on majority age in Italy lowered the threshold from 21 to 18 years, bringing with it all the following duties. Today, I will tell you about this extremely important chapter in our history and examine the differences with other EU countries and beyond.
Parliament approved the Law on March 6, 1975
In Italy, reaching majority age means acquiring the capacity to act, not to be confused with legal capacity, which is acquired directly at birth. Basically, those who reach majority age acquire the title of maggiorenne, leaving behind the label of minorenne forever.
The lowering of the age brought along a slew of new rights for the newly-turned 18-year-olds, such as obtaining a driver’s license (Category B), signing contracts, starting work or getting married.
Let’s look at Aldo Moro, Luigi Gui, Oronzo Reale, and Giovanni Leone, the minds behind the new measure that aimed to make young people responsible as soon as possible. With them, the age limit for the majority was reduced by 3 years, suddenly transforming millions of young people into full-fledged adults in just a few days.
When is the majority age reached in the rest of the World?
The situation of majority age around the world is undeniably extremely variable and interesting to examine:
- United States: The age of majority ranges from 18 to 21 years, depending on the state.
- Iran: 9 years for females and 15 for males.
- Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Indonesia: 15 years.
- Thailand: 20 years.
- United Arab Emirates, Honduras, Cameroon, Singapore: 21 years.
Given these points, these differences highlight the various ideological and cultural distances in the world regarding the transition to the majority age. With its lowering to 18 years in 1975, Italy positioned itself among the earliest countries to recognize the majority age, providing young people with a range of new opportunities and responsibilities.
In the final analysis, if you want to deepen the history of Italian politics:
- The Italian law on rape, between consent and interpretations
- The laws desired by Italian women that have transformed the country
- Italy’s new quickie divorce law
- History of Women’s emancipation in Italy
