In a similar vein to yesterday’s hangover infographics, here are several more that show the minimum age that people can drink across the nations of the world. They show just how out of whack we are with the rest of the world, having one of the highest ages where people are permitted to drink: 21. The majority of the world is at 18 or below, with only a very few above eighteen (of those countries that permit their citizens to choose for themselves whether they want to consume alcohol).
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One odd feature of this one is it shows India as a solid 21, whereas it’s actually 18-25 depending on the state. But it’s still pretty obvious that the world average, where drinking it allowed at all, is 18.
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This one, too, shows a proliferation of 18 and under, where legal.
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The last one, from Charts Bin, lumps together many of the ages of majority, which seems a little misleading. For example, it lumps 19-21 together making it seem like there’s many more that are on the high end whereas only five countries are as high as 21, including the puritanical U.S.
There are also a few decent lists of drinking ages, at the International Center for Alcohol Policies, Wikipedia and Alcohol Problems and Solutions.