New resource for organizers: Vote16 International Timeline
The Vote16 International Timeline: Every implementation of a 16-years-old minimum voting age across the world
We believe that the accessible dissemination of research, evidence, and argumentation all play a key role in campaigns for youth voting rights.
That’s why we’re excited to share our newest resource:
The Vote16 International Timeline: Every implementation of a 16-years-old minimum voting age across the world.
Key findings:
As of November 2025, jurisdictions in 17 countries set the voting age at 16 for elections at one or more levels of government, including Germany, Austria, Scotland, Wales, Brazil, Belgium, Argentina, and 15 cities in the United States.1
These policies go back many years. Jurisdictions in European countries began implementing this policy as early as 1989, including Hungary and several German states. As a result, we now have decades worth of research investigating the full impacts of the change.
Since the 1990s, momentum has continued to build, and over 50 jurisdictions have adopted a vote 16 policy since 2000.
Want to learn more about the research generated by these countries, including effects on turnout, levels of civic interest, and electoral competence? Check out the Vote16 Research Network’s Vote16 Literature Review and Dr. Christine Huebner’s recent submission to the British Columbia Special Committee on Democratic and Electoral Reform.
We have also taken the time to fact-check several claims regarding jurisdictions that have adopted this policy. Please note the absence of Slovenia, Slovakia, Croatia, Puerto Rico, and Bosnia and Herzegovina from our timeline, which are sometimes incorrectly identified as having implemented a voting age of 16.
Going forward, we will publish an updated version of this resource at least once a year, as additional jurisdictions adopt a voting age of 16. We anticipate that future editions will include developments from the United Kingdom, additional U.S. cities, and beyond!
This resource was developed through the collaboration of Vote16 USA, Vote16 Canada, and the University of Maryland Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement. For more information – including sources and research methods – please contact LaJuan Allen at Vote16 USA (lallen@vote16usa.org) for details on U.S. cases, or Aleksi Toiviainen at Vote16 Canada (aleksi@vote16.ca) for details on Canadian and European cases.
Aleksi Toiviainen is Co-Founder of Vote16 Canada.
Please note that while Toronto, Canada, is included in our resource for its recent policy change allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to vote in neighbourhood polls, Canada is not counted among the 17 countries, as the policy applies only to community-level consultation votes held by the city rather than formal elections. Sark, Alderney, Guernsey, Jersey, and the Isle of Man are Crown Dependencies of the United Kingdom rather than countries, and are therefore also not counted among the 17 countries.