Rights on becoming 18 years old
Becoming eighteen years of age in the UK means that you are then considered to be an adult… more or less. There are a few rights which have to wait until you are twenty-one, but all the major ones now come into play. At eighteen you can:
- get married without parental permission
- join the Armed Forces without parental permission
- donate your body or organs after death
- buy, drink and sell alcohol
- buy crossbows, knives, tobacco, tattoos, fireworks
- buy or rent property, since you can now enter into legal contracts
- move up a level on the Minimum Wage scale, to the 18-20 band
- vote and stand in elections
- leave education or vocational training
- fly a commercial aeroplane if qualified
- watch adult films (rated ’18’)
- serve on a jury
- apply for Legal Aid
- be treated as an adult by the judiciary system
It is one of the major ‘milestone’ birthdays, as it is seen as the passing from childhood to adulthood. Some eighteen-year-olds leave home for the first time, at least temporarily, to go to university for a few years, thereby experiencing some measure of adult independence. Others enter the world of work and learn how to handle income and expenses for themselves.
(Image [cropped]: City of Stoke-on-Trent Sixth Form College at Flickr.com / CC BY 2.0)