Why is 21 an adult?

[TriantyWontyGongallow]

Why is the age of 21 you magically turn into an adult?

Over here 18 is the magical age

So why in some countries is it 21?

[Moogal]

Mixed in my country. You can go to a bar and buy alcohol at 18 but to buy it in stores you must be like 20 or 21 if i remember correctly.

[TwisterCat]

Strange, isn't it? 20 is a nice round number. Must have been a blackjack fan that made it law.

[TriantyWontyGongallow]

Originally posted by Moogal™:

Mixed in my country. You can go to a bar and buy alcohol at 18 but to buy it in stores you must be like 20 or 21 if i remember correctly.

But why that age, who decides those kind of arbitrary figures?

[Mr. Smiles]

You may be an adult at 18/21, but as my grandfather said, "no man is worth a damn till he's 30."

I'm almost 40 and still not worth a damn.

[Triple G]

It´s a longer history. Here it was around 25 (around 1800), then 23, then 21, then 18, then 21 again, then at some day (1975) 18.

I guess it´s if You need to sign contracts, because You finished school, but can´t on Your own - it´s a problem. And with the age of 18 You should have done 12 years of school, if everything worked. That was when the highest education here also was called "mature exam". Which could explain it - even if most people finished school with the age of 14 and already worked 4 years with the age of 18 - or killed people in the one or other world war we participated in as aggressor...

[SMIFFY]

Maybe it's down to a person's appearance. Some people can be 18 and still look like they're school age, bumping the age up to 21 reduces the chance of accidentally serving alcohol etc. to minors. In the UK pubs can refuse to serve you if you look under 25 and have no I.D. to prove you're at least 18.

[The Presence]

I don't consider them adults. The brain isn't even done developing at that point.

[TWPanda77]

Different places have different laws. In my country the age of majority was 20 years. It was changed to 18 years from 1st January 2023, so now the law is like many western countries.

[TriantyWontyGongallow]

But for example here in Australia 18 is the age for most adult things.... We don't have the whole 21 thing

[I'M STILL HERE]

im 47 and still a child
if you don't believe me ask the regs here.

[Enterprofilenamehere]

You don't magically turn into an adult at that age, the government just needs to pick an age at which you get to start doing adult stuff. They can't just legislate that you can start buying booze when you are mature enough, because that would be too vague and impossible to enforce compared to a hard number.

[TriantyWontyGongallow]

Originally posted by Enterprofilenamehere:

You don't magically turn into an adult at that age, the government just needs to pick an age at which you get to start doing adult stuff. They can't just legislate that you can start buying booze when you are mature enough, because that would be too vague and impossible to enforce compared to a hard number.

Governments are silly just make it 18 in every country

[Triple G]

Originally posted by The Presence:

I don't consider them adults. The brain isn't even done developing at that point.

Nonetheless some 6 years olds have more developed brains than some 40+ year olds...

The better approach: never consider anyone to be an "adult". We´re just bigger children, who think they are "grown up", because we can describe our demands or actions more seriously - which doesn´t really mean that they are more serious. And the toys change a bit. But that´s about it...

-------------------
Oh and forgot: here it´s 18, but if it´s about lawsuits it could easily expanded to 21. And there are some exceptions, because we can´t do easy to understand laws. So to drive a truck You need to be 21 in most cases, and to drive certain motorbikes You need to be 25 - if You can´t show that You already drove smaller ones for 2 years. And to own guns You don´t need that many checks if You´re older than 25, too. Something like that. This happens, when people who think they´re grown up make the laws i guess. Has to be more complex, so the people "know" that someone really thought about it to the tiniest detail...

[Enterprofilenamehere]

Originally posted by Cyanide Pumpkin:

Originally posted by Enterprofilenamehere:

You don't magically turn into an adult at that age, the government just needs to pick an age at which you get to start doing adult stuff. They can't just legislate that you can start buying booze when you are mature enough, because that would be too vague and impossible to enforce compared to a hard number.

Governments are silly just make it 18 in every country

In Ontario Canada you legally have to be:
- 14 years old to work
- 16 y.o. to drive or consent to sexual activity
- 18 y.o. to buy a lottery ticket, own property, or vote
- 19 y.o. to gamble (other than lottery), or buy booze, tobacco, or cannabis products

[Dracoco OwO]

Majority is 18 because the world hate us.