There is a very wide variation in the term of coming of age in different countries. Moreover, in some states the onset of criminal liability, the ability to marry and get married, manage real estate, drive vehicles, buy alcohol and cigarettes and take part in elections do not coincide with the age of majority. When does adulthood come in Russia, and is it possible in certain cases to lower the age level of entry into adulthood?
According to the International Declaration, which regulates the rights of children, a child is considered a person under the age of 18 years. And adulthood in Russia comes exactly according to this Declaration - full responsibility, as well as legal capacity, is achieved with the onset of 18 years. That is, on the first day, when a citizen of the Russian Federation turned 18, he can safely vote, go to court, conclude property contracts, alienate real estate and the like. People under the age of 18, speaking the official language, are divided into minors (who are under 14 years old) and minors (this is an age between 14 and 18 years). The transition of a child from a young age to a minor is marked by the receipt of a passport of a citizen of the Russian Federation. This does not make him capable, but still some shifts in this direction are coming in his life.
If minors are treated by the state as real children, then in some cases minors may be granted rights and duties as if they had already come of age. In Russia, according to the Family Code of the Russian Federation, the age of marriage begins at the same 18. But in the event of pregnancy of a minor girl, her birth of a child or threat to the life of one of the spouses, the local authorities can meet and allow such minors to marry at 16 years of age. But this is not the limit: some subjects of the federation can pass laws on reducing the age limit for marriage: 11 subjects are allowed to marry at the age of 14, and in Bashkortostan, Oryol and Novgorod oblasts, marriage age is not limited at all. Moreover, marriage already turns minors into fully capable citizens, and divorce (even if it occurred a few weeks after marriage) does not affect the deprivation of their adult status.
Premature adulthood in Russia can be achieved in another way - the so-called "way of emancipation." The Civil Code of the Russian Federation (Art. 27) stipulates that if a minor works under an employment contract, contract or is engaged in business with the consent of his parents, then he can be declared by the guardianship authorities as fully adult. In this case, the child may enter into transactions and be accountable to the law for their execution. By the way, about responsibility before the law: in the Russian Federation they are brought to criminal liability from 16, and for especially serious crimes (murder, robbery, theft or rape) - from 14 years old.
If we look at a map of the world, then the threshold of entry into adulthood is sometimes at a very different age. The smallest bar - only 14 years old - is observed on the Faroe Islands, followed by Cuba - where such a period begins at 16 years old. In most European countries, like ours, at 18. But the age of majority in Japan is reached only at the age of 20, although the marriage age for the bride can be reduced to 14 years. And quite the “ceiling”, that is, the maximum age observed in the world when coming of age, in the USA (not in all states), in Guinea, Bahrain, Egypt, Honduras, Côte d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Monaco, Madagascar and Singapore . Moreover, in these countries the lower bar of the age when you can get married is lower than the age of majority: in France 15 for the bride and 18 for the groom, in Italy, 14 and 16, respectively, and in Germany 16 and 21 years old. In the United States, depending on the state, 14–15 years for a girl and 18–21 for a young man.