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The U.K. will lower the voting age to 16
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Should the voting age be lowered to 16? In the United Kingdom people as young as 16 will be able to vote in the next general election.

The U.K. will lower the voting age to 16

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ProCon debate: Should the U.S. voting age be lowered to 16?

ProCon issue in the news: The voting age across the United Kingdom (comprising England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland) will be uniformly lowered to 16 by the next general election (which must be called by August 2029). The voting age for Holyrood (the Scottish Parliament), Senedd (the Welsh Parliament), and council elections in both Scotland and Wales has already been lowered to 16.

British Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said:

I’m more concerned about misinformation, fake news, the way people get information from these days, and how that can skewer democracy more so than I am about giving a 16- and 17-year-old the opportunity to exercise their right to vote.

Some members of Parliament for the Labour Party, the mainstream democratic socialist party, are concerned that the change will result in more support for smaller progressive parties like the Green Party, while others are concerned that the move will boost the popularity of Reform UK, a right-wing populist party, among young men. However, research by the think tank More in Common shows that teens are such a small percentage of the general voting populace that they are unlikely to have a large national impact.

Regardless of their effect, some in the U.K. argue that the government hasn’t gone far enough in preparing young people to vote. As Rebecca McKee and Sophie Daud of the think tank Institute for Government note:

Young people’s first experience of voting set[s] habits for a lifetime. If the government is serious about restoring trust and supporting all eligible citizens to vote, then it must inspire and excite a new generation of voters by improving the offer of democratic education.

Worldwide, only a handful of countries have lowered the national voting age to 16 or 17 (some with caveats such as employment), including Austria, Argentina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Cuba, East Timor, Ecuador, Greece, Hungary, Indonesia, Malta, Nicaragua, North Korea, Serbia, and Sudan. Others, including Germany and Belgium, allow 16- and 17-year-olds to vote in some, but not all, elections. In the United States, only a few cities have lowered the voting age to 16 for local elections.

Discussion questions

  1. Should the federal voting age be lowered to 16? Why or why not? Explore the debate here.
  2. Should teens be allowed to vote in local and state elections, if not federal elections? Explain your answer.
  3. Following the example of the United Arab Emirates, where the voting age is 25, should the voting age be raised in the United States? Explain your answer.

Sources

  • CIA, “Suffrage,” The World Factbook (accessed July 29, 2025), cia.gov
  • Evan Gorelick, “Should Teens Vote?” (July 18, 2025), nytimes.com
  • Rowena Mason and Pippa Crerar, “Voting Age to Be Lowered to 16 Across UK by Next General Election” (July 17, 2025), theguardian.com
  • Rebecca McKee and Sophie Daud, “Votes at 16 Must Come with Improved Education About the Democratic Process” (July 18, 2025), instituteforgovernment.org.uk
  • World Population Review, “Voting Age by Country 2025” (accessed July 29, 2025), worldpopulationreview.com