Legal Drinking Age By Country 2024

1.	Eritrea	25
2.	United Arab Emirates	21
3.	Marshall Islands	21
4.	Micronesia	21
5.	Bahrain	21
6.	United States	21
7.	Sri Lanka	21
8.	Oman	21
9.	Lesotho	21
10.	Indonesia	21
11.	Nauru	21
12.	Iraq	21
13.	Kazakhstan	21
14.	Egypt	21
15.	Cameroon	21
16.	Mauritania	21
17.	Solomon Islands	21
18.	Cambodia	21
19.	India	21
20.	Palau	21
21.	Uzbekistan	20
22.	Benin	20
23.	Thailand	20
24.	Paraguay	20
25.	Iceland	20
26.	Japan	20
27.	Canada	19
28.	South Korea	19
29.	Qatar	19
30.	Saint Kitts and Nevis	18
31.	Sweden	18
32.	Papua New Guinea	18
33.	Lebanon	18
34.	Costa Rica	18
35.	United Kingdom	18
36.	Puerto Rico	18
37.	Serbia	18
38.	Kyrgyzstan	18
39.	Belize	18
40.	Ghana	18
41.	Malaysia	18
42.	Poland	18
43.	Gambia	18
44.	Australia	18
45.	Grenada	18
46.	Peru	18
47.	Jamaica	18
48.	Azerbaijan	18
49.	Sierra Leone	18
50.	North Korea	18
51.	Finland	18
52.	Slovenia	18
53.	Mauritius	18
54.	Belarus	18
55.	Hong Kong	18
56.	DR Congo	18
57.	Argentina	18
58.	New Zealand	18
59.	Namibia	18
60.	Mozambique	18
61.	North Macedonia	18
62.	Seychelles	18
63.	Norway	18
64.	Honduras	18
65.	Guatemala	18
66.	Kenya	18
67.	Uganda	18
68.	Philippines	18
69.	Syria	18
70.	Moldova	18
71.	Nigeria	18
72.	Madagascar	18
73.	Liberia	18
74.	Equatorial Guinea	18
75.	Portugal	18
76.	Comoros	18
77.	Botswana	18
78.	Rwanda	18
79.	Venezuela	18
80.	Ivory Coast	18
81.	Latvia	18
82.	Russia	18
83.	Myanmar	18
84.	Zimbabwe	18
85.	Ukraine	18
86.	Bosnia and Herzegovina	18
87.	Italy	18
88.	Uruguay	18
89.	Taiwan	18
90.	Zambia	18
91.	Romania	18
92.	Jordan	18
93.	Montenegro	18
94.	Malawi	18
95.	Eswatini	18
96.	Senegal	18
97.	Bolivia	18
98.	Tunisia	18
99.	Monaco	18
100.	Albania	18
101.	Brazil	18
102.	Guinea	18
103.	Nepal	18
104.	Estonia	18
105.	Trinidad and Tobago	18
106.	Colombia	18
107.	El Salvador	18
108.	Czech Republic	18
109.	Turkey	18
110.	Bahamas	18
111.	Ireland	18
112.	Chile	18
113.	Lithuania	18
114.	Mexico	18
115.	South Sudan	18
116.	Armenia	18
117.	Tajikistan	18
118.	Israel	18
119.	Singapore	18
120.	Algeria	18
121.	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	18
122.	France	18
123.	Greece	18
124.	Nicaragua	18
125.	Panama	18
126.	Angola	18
127.	Sao Tome and Principe	18
128.	Mongolia	18
129.	Republic of the Congo	18
130.	China	18
131.	Ecuador	18
132.	Turkmenistan	18
133.	Hungary	18
134.	Vietnam	18
135.	Dominican Republic	18
136.	Morocco	18
137.	Guyana	18
138.	Ethiopia	18
139.	Fiji	18
140.	Tanzania	18
141.	Bhutan	18
142.	Spain	18
143.	Croatia	18
144.	Gabon	18
145.	Bulgaria	18
146.	Netherlands	18
147.	Slovakia	18
148.	Cyprus	18
149.	Niger	18
150.	South Africa	18
151.	Bangladesh	18
152.	Malta	17
153.	Burundi	16
154.	Chad	16
155.	Suriname	16
156.	Barbados	16
157.	Haiti	16
158.	Cuba	16
159.	Georgia	16
160.	Denmark	16
161.	San Marino	16
162.	Luxembourg	16
163.	Germany	16
164.	Saint Lucia	16
165.	Austria	16
166.	Palestine	16
167.	Belgium	16
168.	Dominica	16
169.	Switzerland	16
170.	Central African Republic	15
171.	Mali	15

Introduction

In a world where customs and laws vary widely, the legal drinking age stands as one of the most debated and diversified policy areas globally. The legal drinking age is the minimum age at which a person can legally consume alcoholic beverages. The age limit can differ dramatically from country to country and can have separate rules for consumption and purchase of alcohol.

The highest legal drinking age in the world is found in Eritrea – 25 years. This sets a top benchmark, showing extreme caution towards the potentially harmful effects of alcohol on individuals and their societies.
In contrast, the minimum legal drinking age is 15 years in the Central African Republic and Mali, pointing to a more lenient approach towards alcohol consumption.
The United States, along with 16 other countries, enforces a legal drinking age of 21, which is among the highest globally. Notably, this is driven by a nationwide effort to curtail drunk driving incidents among teens and young adults.
Most of the countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia, Brazil, and China, have set their legal drinking age at 18 years.
Countries like Denmark, Austria, Belgium, and Switzerland, reflect a more lenient approach towards alcohol consumption with a legal drinking age of 16.

By Region

Albania

See Less

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#100

Algeria

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#120

Angola

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#126

Argentina

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#57

Armenia

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#116

Australia

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#44

Austria

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#165

Azerbaijan

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#48

Bahamas

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#110

Bahrain

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

Bangladesh

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#151

Barbados

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#156

Belarus

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#54

Belgium

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#167

Belize

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#39

Benin

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#22

Bhutan

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#141

Bolivia

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#97

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#86

Botswana

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#77

Brazil

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#101

Bulgaria

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#145

Burundi

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#153

Cambodia

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#18

Cameroon

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#15

Canada

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#27

Central African Republic

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#170

Chad

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#154

Chile

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#112

China

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#130

Colombia

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#106

Comoros

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#76

Costa Rica

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#34

Croatia

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#143

Cuba

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#158

Cyprus

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#148

Czech Republic

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#108

DR Congo

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#56

Denmark

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#160

Dominica

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#168

Dominican Republic

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#135

Ecuador

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#131

Egypt

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#14

El Salvador

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#107

Equatorial Guinea

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#74

Eritrea

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

Estonia

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#104

Eswatini

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#95

Ethiopia

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#138

Fiji

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#139

Finland

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#51

France

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#122

Gabon

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#144

Gambia

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#43

Georgia

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#159

Germany

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#163

Ghana

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#40

Greece

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#123

Grenada

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#45

Guatemala

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#65

Guinea

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#102

Guyana

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#137

Haiti

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#157

Honduras

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#64

Hong Kong

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#55

Hungary

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#133

Iceland

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#25

India

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#19

Indonesia

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#10

Iraq

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#12

Ireland

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#111

Israel

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#118

Italy

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#87

Ivory Coast

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#80

Jamaica

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#47

Japan

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#26

Jordan

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#92

Kazakhstan

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#13

Kenya

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#66

Kyrgyzstan

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#38

Latvia

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#81

Lebanon

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#33

Lesotho

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

Liberia

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#73

Lithuania

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#113

Luxembourg

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#162

Madagascar

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#72

Malawi

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#94

Malaysia

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#41

Mali

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#171

Malta

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#152

Marshall Islands

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

Mauritania

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#16

Mauritius

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#53

Mexico

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#114

Micronesia

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

Moldova

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#70

Monaco

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#99

Mongolia

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#128

Montenegro

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#93

Morocco

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#136

Mozambique

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#60

Myanmar

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#83

Namibia

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#59

Nauru

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#11

Nepal

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#103

Netherlands

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#146

New Zealand

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#58

Nicaragua

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#124

Niger

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#149

Nigeria

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#71

North Korea

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#50

North Macedonia

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#61

Norway

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#63

Oman

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

Palau

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#20

Palestine

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#166

Panama

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#125

Papua New Guinea

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#32

Paraguay

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#24

Peru

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#46

Philippines

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#68

Poland

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#42

Portugal

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#75

Puerto Rico

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#36

Qatar

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#29

Republic of the Congo

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#129

Romania

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#91

Russia

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#82

Rwanda

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#78

Saint Kitts and Nevis

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#30

Saint Lucia

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#164

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#121

San Marino

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#161

Sao Tome and Principe

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#127

Senegal

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#96

Serbia

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#37

Seychelles

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#62

Sierra Leone

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#49

Singapore

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#119

Slovakia

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#147

Slovenia

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#52

Solomon Islands

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#17

South Africa

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#150

South Korea

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#28

South Sudan

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#115

Spain

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#142

Sri Lanka

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

Suriname

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#155

Sweden

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#31

Switzerland

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#169

Syria

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#69

Taiwan

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#89

Tajikistan

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#117

Tanzania

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#140

Thailand

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#23

Trinidad and Tobago

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#105

Tunisia

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#98

Turkey

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#109

Turkmenistan

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#132

Uganda

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#67

Ukraine

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#85

United Arab Emirates

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

United Kingdom

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#35

United States

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

Uruguay

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#88

Uzbekistan

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#21

Venezuela

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#79

Vietnam

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#134

Zambia

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#90

Zimbabwe

Metric

Value

Rank

Legal Drinking Age

#84

Additional Miscellaneous Datasets