Why Is 18 The Legal Adult Age?

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Why do you legally become an adult at 18 in the UK? Is it just a social construct?

Mystery Question

Why do you legally become an adult at 18 in the UK? Is it just a social construct? Eve, Hammersmith

Answer

Name: Margaret, County Kenney

Qualification: Old enough to remember

It used to be 21, but after the war finished, people were complaining that we could send our lads to war and they could be killed at 18, but we couldn’t vote until we were 21. So that’s why they changed it.